![]() John's, was at home when the tornado sirens began going off. Police officers could be seen combing the surrounding area for bodies. John's patients were evacuated to other hospitals in the region, said Cora Scott, a spokeswoman for the medical center's sister hospital in Springfield.Įarly Monday morning, floodlights from a temporary triage facility lit what remained of the hospital that once held as many 367 patients. It was 30 years old and two layers of brick. "The building that my office was in was not flimsy. Probably for two to three blocks, it's just leveled," he said. Rubble littered a flattened lot where a pharmacy, gas station and some doctor's offices once stood. Matt Sheffer dodged downed power lines, trees and closed streets to make it to his dental office across from the hospital. Nearby, a pile of cars lay crumpled into a single mass of twisted metal. In the parking lot, a helicopter lay crushed on its side, its rotors torn apart and windows smashed. ![]() The staff had just a few moments' notice to hustle patients into hallways before the storm struck the nine-story building, blowing out hundreds of windows and leaving the facility useless. ![]() Jasper County emergency management director Keith Stammer said an estimated 2,000 buildings were damaged.Īmong the worst-hit locations in Joplin was St. Sunday's storm in Joplin hit a hospital packed with patients and a commercial area including a Home Depot construction store, numerous smaller businesses and restaurants and a grocery store. But the devastation in Missouri was the worst of the day, eerily reminiscent the tornadoes that killed more than 300 people across the South last month. At least one person was killed in Minneapolis. The same storm system that produced the Joplin tornado spawned twisters along a broad swath of the Midwest, from Oklahoma to Wisconsin. "I couldn't even make out the side of the building. That's really what it looked like," said Kerry Sachetta, the principal of a flattened Joplin High School. "You see pictures of World War II, the devastation and all that with the bombing. Residents said the damage was breathtaking in scope. "It's going to be a stark view as people see dawn rise in Joplin, Missouri." "It's a very, very precarious situation," Nixon told CNN. Jay Nixon said fires from gas leaks still burned across the city. "We will recover and come back stronger than we are today," Rohr said defiantly of his city's future.Įarly Monday, Gov. ![]() That's really what it looked like." Kerry Sachetta, principal of a flattened Joplin High SchoolĪuthorities planned to conduct a door-to-door search of the damaged area Monday morning, but were expected to move gingerly around downed power lines, jagged debris and a series of gas leaks that caused fires around the city overnight. Much of the city's south side was leveled, with churches, schools, businesses and homes reduced to ruins.įire chief Mitch Randles estimated that 25 to 30 percent of the city was damaged, and said his own home was among the buildings destroyed as the twister swept through this city of about 50,000 people some 160 miles south of Kansas City.Īn unknown number of people were injured in the storm, and officials said patients were scattered to any nearby hospitals that could take them. Rohr said the twister cut a path nearly six miles long and more than a half-mile wide through the center of town, adding that tornado sirens gave residents about a 20-minute warning before the tornado touched down on the city's west side. (AP)Ī massive tornado that tore through the southwest Missouri city of Joplin killed at least 89 people, but authorities warned that the death toll could climb Monday as search and rescuers continued their work at sunrise.Ĭity manager Mark Rohr announced the number of known dead at a pre-dawn news conference outside the wreckage of a hospital that took a direct hit from Sunday's storm. Facebook Email Residents begin digging through the rubble of their home after it was destroyed by a tornado that hit Joplin, Mo., Sunday evening.
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