In Wake of Tornado, Official Says 1,500 Are Unaccounted For

[cali]

Eric Thayer/Reuters

JOPLIN, Mo. — About 1,500 people are unaccounted for in this battered city, a Fire Department official said Tuesday, as rescue workers took advantage of a few hours of sunny weather to continue searching for survivors in buildings leveled by the country’s deadliest tornado in more than 60 years. At least 117 people have died.


While the number of those unaccounted for is alarmingly high in a city with only 49,000 people — and raises the specter of a far higher death count — it may merely be a reflection of the widespread breakdown of communication systems here in the wake of Sunday’s vicious storm. Many residents who fled ahead of the tornado or survived it may be unable to notify the authorities or family members who have reported them missing.

Capt. Robert Daus of the Maryland Heights Fire District, who is helping to lead a team of about 100 St. Louis-area firefighters in search and rescue operations in Joplin, said that in addition to the 1,500 people who remain unaccounted for, an additional 500 had been injured by the tornado, which cut a three-quarter-mile-wide path through this southwestern Missouri city and damaged as many as 30 percent of its buildings.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/us/25tornado.html?_r=2

[liberal N proud]

1. That can only mean the 120 death toll is going to go much, much higher

So sad.

[Sherman A1]

2. Interesting

The Fire Captain is from Maryland Heights, just South of where I live and it was an area impacted by the Good Friday Tornado that hit the St. Louis area. It's good to see that they were able to send some assistance to Joplin.

[Ex Lurker]

3. One of them is Will Norton

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/05/24/2011-05-24_family_seeks_high_school_grad_will_norton_sucked_out_of_cars_sunroof_during_jopl.html?r=topnews

[99th_Monkey]

4. What they don't say is if that counts the hundreds taken to out-of-area hospitals ..

I hear them mention that hundreds had been transported out to 4-5 nearest medical centers, and I'm assuming they'd pretty much know how many had been evacuated and are subtracting that number from the total number missing; otherwise that 1500 number would be inflated.

[cbdo2007]

5. I imagine they'll be finding bodies for weeks.

I'm not 100% sure how it works, but if there were documents and papers from the hospital found 60 miles away in Springfield, I'm sure some people were picked up and carried for miles. It's really horrible. I just can't imagine the devastation down there and I think we'll easily see the death toll over 300 when all is finished :(

[Rhiannon12866]

6. This really is as awful as it gets...

;(

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. So sad.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. While Joplin's official population is about 49,000,

the city's web site says that the daytime population is more than 5X that. So a lot of non-residents could be unaccounted for as well.