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May 5 — The death toll from dozens of twisters and severe storms that ripped through the Midwest and South continued to climb Monday, with the number at 32 by midday. Eleven of the deaths occurred overnight in and around Jackson, Tenn. As homeless families combed through rubble and sought shelter, officials warned of the possibility of more severe weather in the region.
THE DEATH TOLL had been 19 until Monday morning, when the Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Tennessee confirmed 11 fatalities from a tornado that hit shortly before midnight. Sixty-six people were treated for injuries and the hospital was expecting more victims from and around the city of 85,000.
Much of Jackson had no power Monday and the hospital was operating off a generator.
“It’s like downtown Baghdad,” resident Joe Byrd said of the damage.
With winds of at least 100 mph, the tornado tore a 65-mile path across west Tennessee.
The series of tornadoes that began midday Sunday knocked hundreds of homes off their foundations, uprooted trees, downed power lines and forced travelers at Kansas City’s main airport to huddle in underground tunnels.
ARMORY LEVELED
In Pierce City, Mo., there was not a home or business in the town of nearly 1,400 residents untouched by a tornado that struck around 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Trees were twisted and brick, glass and other debris made it impossible to walk the streets.
“It’s devastating,” said Michael Spencer, a Red Cross worker in Pierce City. Commercial buildings around the town square were hard hit and “there are homes behind them that are just flattened,” he said. State Rep. Jack Goodman, a town native, told NBC’s “Today” show that “there’s not one downtown building that wasn’t seriously damaged.” Among them was the National Guard Armory, where two bodies were pulled from the rubble and where police had said they feared up to nine were trapped after seeking shelter there.
By midmorning, however, rescuers found no bodies and regional emergency official Glenn Dittmar said he was “99 1/2 percent” sure that no one else would be found at the armory, which was the town’s designated tornado shelter.
May 5 — Missouri state Rep. Jack Goodman and emergency management official Rick Jordan talk to “Today” about the devastation.
Mayor Mark Peters, who took shelter in the armory along with 40 or so other residents, told “Today” that when he emerged, “I didn’t see the town.”
Peters said the town wasn’t expected to get power back for at least 36 hours and that residents were being told to boil water for the time being.
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Twisters death toll rises to 32
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