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24 people killed as tornado strikes Missouri: local media

May 23, 2011 - 14:07 By (공용)코리아헤럴드
Death toll may rise to 100

CHICAGO, (AFP) - A tornado killed 24 people Sunday in the Missouri town of Joplin, local media reported, less than a month after twisters
carved a swathe of destruction through the US southeast.

The Springfield News-Leader newspaper reported that Ryan Nicholls of the Springfield-Greene County office of emergency management confirmed that 24 people were killed.

Joplin, located just miles from the borders of Kansas and Oklahoma, took a "direct hit" from a tornado, the newspaper reported.

"The Home Depot is leveled. The Walmart is destroyed. Gas stations, buildings. Everywhere I could see was either heavily damaged or completely
destroyed," said John Miller, a freelance photographer for the News-Leader.
"I saw firefighters and paramedics pull a young girl out of a car at the Home Depot," Miller said. "Part of the building had fallen on the car."

The tornado struck less than a month after a tornado outbreak left 354 dead across seven US states.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and activated National Guard troops in response to what he described as "significant
destruction in multiple areas, including Joplin, where a tornado struck St. John's Regional Medical Center."

The badly damaged medical center was evacuated Sunday.

"These storms have caused extensive damage across Missouri, and they continue to pose significant risk to lives and property" Nixon said in a
statement late Sunday.

"As a state, we are deploying every agency and resource available to keep Missouri families safe, search for the missing, provide emergency medical care,and begin to recover." he added.

Nixon warned that the storms are not finished.

"I urge Missourians to keep a close eye on the latest weather information and to follow the instructions and warnings of emergency personnel as these
deadly storms continue to move through our state," he said.

Jerry Williams, assistant vice president at Missouri Southern State University, who survived the storm was quoted as calling the experience "horrific."

"There are just areas that are flattened," he told The News-Leader. "Places are gone. It's like somebody dropped a bomb or something."

On Saturday, a deadly tornado pummeled the east Kansas town of Reading, killing a man and damaging an estimated 80 percent of Reading's structures,
mostly wood-frame buildings.

According to witnesses, it crushed a grain elevator, tore the top off the red brick post office, blew the back off the local fire department building, tore houses off foundations and uprooted trees.

"We have nothing, no place to call home. It's hard," Jill Scales, a Reading resident, told reporters. "We're just still in shock. We don't know where to go
from here. What do you do?"

A tornado was also responsible for the death of one person in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Sunday, authorities said. At least 18 others in that city and its
suburbs were injured.



<한글 기사>

美 중부 토네이도 강타..사망자 속출

사상자 100명까지 예상 

최근 미국의 남동부 지역에서 토네이도로 인한 막대한 피해가 발생한 가운데 22일(이하 현지시각) 강력한 토네이도가  중부지역까지 강타, 사망자가 속출하고 있다.

미네소타주 미니애폴리스 당국 관계자는 이날 토네이도로 최소 1명이 사망했으며 약 30명의 주민이 부상해 병원으로 옮겨져 치료를 받고 있다고 전했다. 이  가운데 2명은 부상 정도가 심각한 것으로 알려져 추후 사망자 수가 늘어날 가능성도 없지 않다.

미주리주 조플린의 남부 지역도 토네이도가 휩쓸고 지나가면서 일부 건물이 손상되고 전화선도 끊긴 상태다.

미주리주 재난관리본부의 책임자인 존 캠벨은 아직까지 정확한 사망자 수는 파악되지 않았지만 이번 토네이도로 숨진 사람이 있다는 사실은 맞다고 확인했다.

위스콘신주의 라크로스 지역도 토네이도가 발생하면서 주택의 지붕이 날아가고 건물이 훼손됐다.

이에 따라 현지 당국은 구호팀을 곳곳에 파견, 부서진 건물 잔해더미에 매몰된 주민들을 구조하기 위한 수색작업을 진행하고 있다.

지난 4월말 미 남동부 지역을 휩쓸었던 토네이도는 최근 중부지방으로 북상해 기승을 부리는 형세다.

앞서 21일에는 캔자스주의 동부 지역에서 야구공만한 우박을 동반한 토네이도가 발생해 최소 1명이 숨지고 주택 20여채가 파괴됐다.

(연합뉴스)