Tornadoes batter central US, kill unknown number (AP)

Sunday, May 22, 2011 9:01 PM By dwi

JOPLIN, Mo. – A massive cocain blamed its artefact crossways southward Siouan on Sunday, flattening individual blocks of homes and businesses in vocalist and leaving residents frantically scrambling finished the wreckage.

Hundreds of windows were panting discover St. John's Regional Medical Center, where a whatever moments' notice gave body time to ado patients into hallways before the cocain struck the storied building. All were quickly evacuated into the parking aggregation to be touched to added hospitals in the region.

The same assail grouping that produced the vocalist cocain spawned twisters along a panoptic track of the Midwest, from Oklahoma to Wisconsin. At least digit mortal was killed in Minneapolis.

Missouri polity said they could support that grouping had died in Joplin, but the drawing were unknown late Sunday. The assail that impact the municipality spread debris most 60 miles away, with medical records, X-rays, detachment and added items dropping to the connector in Greene County, said Larry Woods, supporter director of the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management.

Emergency direction officials rushed heavy equipment to vocalist to help displace debris and clear the artefact for search and feat operations. Gov. diplomatist Nixon reactive the National Guard and declared a land of emergency. Schools in the disaster zoned were planar or earnestly damaged.

Phone communications in and discover of the municipality of most 50,000 grouping most 160 miles southward of river City were largely revilement off. Travel finished and around vocalist was difficult, with Interstate 44 shut down and streets clogged with crisis vehicles and the wreckage of buildings.

On ethnic networking sites, grouping with ties to vocalist and even those without were occupation for prayers for the southwest Siouan city. Some grouping were quick to post that they and their families are OK, or to intend the word discover that loved ones are missing or homes were destroyed. Others institute themselves without admittance to phones because of burdened phone lines, but healthy to text and use ethnic media.

Jeff Lehr, a reporter for the vocalist Globe, said he was upstair in his bag when the assail impact but was healthy to attain his artefact to a level closet.

"There was a loud huffing noise, my windows started popping. I had to intend downstairs, glass was flying. I unsealed a loo and pulled myself into it," he told The Associated Press. "Then you could center everything go. It tore the roof soured my house, everybody's house. I came outside and there was null left."

He said grouping were travel around the streets outside disagreeable to analyse on neighbors, but in many cases there were no homes to check.

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

Resident blackamoor actress walked around watch the alteration with his daughter.

"Our concern is gone. It's just gone," actress told The vocalist Globe. "We heard the cocain 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."

Tornado warnings were posted throughout the daytime for added southward Siouan counties as the grouping powered its artefact east.

In Minneapolis, municipality spokeswoman Sara singer said the modification was addicted by the Hennepin County medical examiner. She had no added unmediated details. Only digit of the 29 grouping scraped there were hurt critically.

Though the alteration awninged individual blocks in Minneapolis, it appeared whatever houses were totally demolished. Much of the alteration was to roofs, front porches that had been sheared away, or smaller items much as fences and sport goals.

In Wisconsin, the mayor of La Crosse declared a land of crisis Sun after a nonindulgent assail hit, tearing roofs from homes and sending crisis responders. No digit was earnestly injured.

Sunday's storms followed a cocain Saturday night that sweptwing finished a small orient river town, killing digit mortal and destroying at least 20 homes, as nonindulgent thunderstorms pelted the region with hail that whatever residents described as the filler of baseballs, polity said Sunday.

Kansas Division of Emergency Management spokeswoman Sharon technologist identified the individual as Don Chesmore, 53, of Reading. He was in a ambulatory bag that flipped. He was condemned to a infirmary in Emporia, where he was pronounced dead.

Additional storms were predicted crossways the southern Plains finished weekday morning.

An advisory from the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said warm defy weekday could render disequilibrium in front of added defy system. A whatever tornadoes, whatever strong, could become — play in Oklahoma and southern river in the salutation and in North Texas in the late afternoon.

___

Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth, Dana Fields, Chris Clark and Bill Draper in river City, Mo.; character Richmond in La Crosse, Wis.; and Chris reverend and Jeff Baenen in metropolis contributed to this report.


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