'Dozens' killed by tornado in US town

'Dozens' killed by tornado in US town

At least 30 people reported dead after powerful twister rips through the town of Joplin in southwestern Missouri.

At least 30 people were killed by a powerful tornado that ripped through the southwestern Missouri town of Joplin, a local coroner told Reuters news agency by telephone.

The tornado ripped through parts of the Midwest on Sunday where a massive twister flattened a large area of Joplin and heavily damaged a hospital.

"At this point we know we are up into the 30 range," Mark Bridges, Newton County Coroner, said.

"We have heard up into the over-100 (range), but ... I don't think anyone has a good count right now," he said of the casualties. He also said that 11 bodies had been recovered from just one location in Joplin.

Many streets on the city's south side were described as impassible, littered with downed trees and utility poles. Emergency vehicles were racing across the city, taking injured residents to hospitals.

John Campbell, operations director for the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency, confirmed fatalities have been reported, but he did not have an exact number or specifics.

Phone communications in and out of the city of about 50,000 people about 257km south of Kansas City were largely cut off.

Hospital damaged

St. John Regional Medical Center was evacuating nearly 100 patients after the hospital took a direct hit from the tornado, Cora Scott, a spokeswoman at the hospital's sister facility, said.

The patients were being taken to other hospitals. Witnesses said windows were blown out on the top floors of the hospital.

Jeff Lehr, a reporter for the Joplin Globe, said he was upstairs in his home when the storm hit but was able to make his way to a basement closet.

"There was a loud huffing noise, my windows started popping. I had to get downstairs, glass was flying. I opened a closet and pulled myself into it," he said.

"Then you could hear everything go. It tore the roof off my house, everybody's house. I came outside and there was nothing left."

Lehr said people were walking around the streets outside trying to check on neighbours, but in many cases there were no homes to check.

"There were people wandering the streets, all mud covered," he said. I'm talking to them, asking if they knew where their family is. Some of them didn't know, and weren't sure where they were. All the street markers were gone."

Resident Tom Rogers walked around viewing the damage with his daughter.

"Our house is gone. It's just gone," Rogers told The Joplin Globe. "We heard the tornado sirens for the second time. All of a sudden, everything came crashing down on us. We pulled our heads up and there was nothing. It was gone."

State of emergency

Missouri governor Jay Nixon activated the National Guard and declared a state of emergency. Nixon said the state and local law enforcement agencies were co-ordinating search and rescue and recovery operations.

Tammy Spicer. a Missouri National Guard major, said more than 100 members of the 35th Engineer Brigade, which has a battalion based in Joplin, were expected to immediately report for duty to aid in search and rescue efforts, clear roads, provide security and help with radio communications.

The guard's armory in Joplin suffered only minor damage but was without electricity Sunday night, Spicer said. One of the challenges facing the guard was simply getting in touch with all of its members in the area, she said.

"This just looks like a horrific event," Spicer said. "We want to help the community - both the emergency response forces there and the citizens."

In Minneapolis, Sara Dietrich, a city spokeswoman, said the death there was confirmed by the Hennepin County medical examiner. She had no other immediate details. Only two of the 29 people injured there were hurt critically.

Though the damage covered several blocks in Minneapolis, it appeared few houses were totally demolished. Much of the damage was to roofs, front porches that had been sheared away, or smaller items such as fences and basketball goals.

In Wisconsin, a powerful storm caused significant damage in La Crosse, tearing roofs from homes and sending emergency responders to search damaged buildings for anyone trapped inside, officials said.

La Crosse County sheriff's dispatcher Tim Vogel described the damage as "significant" but told The Associated Press news agency there were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

Sunday's storms followed a tornado Saturday night that swept through a small eastern Kansas town, killing one person and destroying at least 20 homes, as severe thunderstorms pelted the region with hail that some residents described as the size of baseballs.

Source: Agencies