Joplin, Missouri (CNN) — More than 1,500 police and firefighters from four states worked in a pouring rainstorm this afternoon, combing the wreckage of central Joplin for survivors of one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history.
The Sunday night tornado chewed through a densely populated area of the southwest Missouri city, killing at least 89 as it tore apart homes and businesses, ripped into a high school and caused severe damage to one of the two hospitals in the city.
The tornado — the fourth-deadliest since the National Weather Service began keeping count in 1950 — caused significant damage to as many as a quarter of the buildings in Joplin, fire and emergency management officials said.
Parts of the city of 50,500 were unrecognizable, according to Steve Polley, a storm chaser from Kansas City, Missouri, who described the damage as “complete devastation.”
Aerial footage from CNN affiliate KOTV showed houses reduced to lumber and smashed cars sitting atop heaps of wood. Other areas appeared to be nearly scoured clean.
Damage to the city’s infrastructure was severe. Numerous phone lines and cell phone towers were down, making it difficult to communicate, state officials said. Empire District Electric Co. reported severe damage to its facilities and said 18,000 customers were without power Monday afternoon. Missouri American Water Co. asked customers to conserve water and boil what they do use.
