Breaking News of the Day: At least 89 people have been killed after a tornado strike in Joplin, Missouri — the deadliest since the Worcester Twister of 1953 — damaged or destroyed over 2,000 buildings (30% of the town), including St. John’s Regional Medical Center, one of Joplin’s two hospitals.
Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency, as the number of casualties was expected to rise. “I’ve been to about 75 disasters, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this before,” National Red Cross spokesman Michael Spencer told the AP. “It cut the city in half,” said Joplin fire chief Mitch Randles.
The same storm system produced 70 reported tornadoes across the Midwest, including a series of deadly tornado touchdowns in the Twin Cities, which killed at least one person in Minneapolis and caused widespread damage and power outages in surrounding communities.
More footage from yesterday’s storm and its devastating aftermath after the jump:
