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Tornado Kills 89 in Midwestern US Town

   VOA News  May 23, 2011
   Damaged vehicles litter the parking lot of St. John's Hospital in
   Joplin, Missouri, after a tornado hit the Missouri city on Sunday, May
   22, 2011

Photo: AP

   Damaged vehicles litter the parking lot of St. John's Hospital in
   Joplin, Missouri, after a tornado hit the Missouri city on Sunday, May
   22, 2011

   A tornado has ripped through the midwestern U.S. state of Missouri,
   killing at least 89 people and cutting a path of destruction.
   The powerful twister struck the town of Joplin, about 220 kilometers
   south of Kansas City, destroying homes, crushing cars and badly
   damaging a hospital, which had to be evacuated. Officials say they
   expect the death toll to rise.
   The strong winds blew debris up to 100 kilometers away.
   Another tornado in the state of Minnesota killed one person and injured
   nearly 30 others. The strong line of storms swept across states
   stretching from Wisconsin to Oklahoma.
   President Barack Obama called Missouri's governor to express his
   condolences and pledged federal government support for recovery
   efforts. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is
   traveling to Missouri to join FEMA officials already in the state.
   The White House says the president received multiple updates about the
   damage on his way to Ireland, where he arrived Monday. He instructed
   his staff to keep him updated, and to stay closely coordinated with
   state and local officials.
   Last month, tornadoes and violent thunderstorms killed more than 300
   people across the southern United States, with the state of Alabama
   bearing the brunt of the fatalities, with more than 200 dead.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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