A major tornado killed at least 116 people in Joplin, Missouri, when it tore through the heart of the small US Midwestern city.
Weather officials said the twister that struck the city of 50,000 on Sunday evening was the deadliest single tornado in the United States since 1947 and the ninth-deadliest tornado of all time.
Authorities yesterday put the casualty toll at 116 dead and some 400 people hurt, many suffering severe internal injuries. The tornado ripped the roof off a hospital and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.
US president Barack Obama said he was "heartbroken" by images of damage in Joplin. He told reporters in London today he would go to the city on May 29th to inspect the scene and offer condolences.
Seven people trapped by the storm had been rescued, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon told reporters in Joplin. Emergency crews searched through the night and through a thunderstorm with driving rain yesterday for additional survivors.
"We still believe there are folks alive under the rubble, and we're trying hard to reach them," Mr Nixon said.
Speaking this morning, Mr Obama said: "All we can do is let them know that all of America cares deeply about them and that we are going to do absolutely everything we can to make sure that they recover," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who are suffering at this moment."
The president said he and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had spoken to Mr Nixon. "We've offered him not only our condolences, but we've told him that we will give him every ounce of resources the federal government may have that we can bring to bear on this situation."
Survivors told harrowing stories of seeking shelter from winds of nearly 322km/h in walk-in freezers in restaurants and convenience stores, hiding in bathtubs and closets, and of running for their lives as the tornado neared.
"We were getting hit by rocks, and I don't even know what hit me," said Leslie Swatosh (22) who huddled on the floor of a store with several others clutching one another as they prayed. When the tornado passed, the store was destroyed but those inside were all alive. "Everyone in that store was blessed. There was nothing of that store left," she said.
More severe storms were predicted for the region, in a year that has brought tornadoes of record intensity across several states. Further complicating the rescue effort, power lines were downed, broken gas lines ignited fires, and cell phone communications were spotty due to 17 toppled phone towers.
A number of bodies were found along the city's "restaurant row," on the main commercial street, and a local nursing home took a direct hit, said Newton County Coroner Mark Bridges.
Roaring along a path nearly 9.5km long and about 1km wide, the tornado flattened whole neighbourhoods, splintered trees and flipped over cars and trucks. Some 2,000 homes and many other businesses, schools and other buildings were destroyed.
At St John's hospital 180 patients cowered as the fierce winds blew out windows and pulled off the roof. According to Meteorologist Alan Reppert, X-ray films from the hospital were found 112kms away.
The city's residents were given about 20 minutes' notice when 25 warning sirens sounded Sunday evening, said Jasper County Emergency Management Director Keith Stammers.
Mr Nixon said many people may have been unable to reach shelter in time. "The bottom line was the storm was so loud you probably couldn't hear the sirens going off." He declared a state of emergency and called out the National Guard to help.
An estimated 20,000 homes and businesses were without power in Joplin.
The Joplin tornado was the latest in a string of powerful twisters that has wreaked death and devastation across numerous states, and it comes as much of the Mississippi River Valley is underwater from massive flooding.
Twisters killed more than 300 people and caused more than $2 billion (€1.4 billion) in property damage across Southern states last month, killing more than 200 in Alabama alone.
The death toll of at least 116 topped the 115 people who perished in a 1953 tornado in Flint, Michigan. A 1947 tornado in Woodland, Oklahoma, killed 181 people.
Reuters