A massive tornado brought havoc to Joplin Missouri this past weekend. As of Monday, the death toll is set at 116. City officials are calling the tornado the deadliest ever recorded since the National Weather Service began tracking such happenings 60 years ago.
The tornado, which touched down late Sunday evening, was classified as an EF-4 with winds exceeding 190mph. The damage is yet untold, but several neighborhoods have been utterly demolished.
A state of emergency has been declared by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon. The event caught the attention of President Obama, who expressed his deepest condolences. FEMA has been dispatched to lend support to those in need. Several of the state’s insurers have also sent teams to Joplin to help in assessing the damage as well as field claims coming in from around the city and its outlying areas.
Aerial surveillance suggests that more than 10% of the city – more than 2,000 structures – stood directly in the tornado’s path. That area is now completely decimated. Yet more properties were damaged beyond the path of the tornado as violent winds turned debris into dangerous projectiles. The amount of damage and injury produced by the tornado surpasses that of last month’s outbreak of tornados throughout the South.
Joplin’s mayor, Mike Woolston, says “We’re still trying to find people. The outlook is pretty bleak.”
Missouri is also one of the states affect by last month’s violent storms. The state is still recovering from that event.
