Joplin, Missouri (CNN) -- A tornado that chewed through a densely populated area of Joplin, Missouri killed at least 89 people 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, officials said Monday.

As many as a quarter of the buildings in the southwest Missouri city suffered major or significant damage, fire and emergency management officials said.

Parts of the city were unrecognizable, according to Steve Polley, a storm chaser from Kansas City, Missouri, who described the damage from the Sunday night tornado as "complete devastation."

Joplin Fire Chief Mitch Randles said he believes people were still trapped in buildings Monday morning. Authorities warned the death toll was likely to rise.

Complicating the situation, broken natural gas lines caused fires overnight throughout the city of 50,500, Gov. Jay Nixon said.

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Joplin, MO Tornado: Horrifying Video From Inside The Twister
The Huffington Post
First Posted: 05/23/11 09:02 AM ET Updated: 05/23/11 09:05 AM ET

Not many can say they've lived through a deadly tornado like the one that struck Joplin, Missouri on Sunday. Even fewer can come back from the heart of the storm with footage documenting the terror from within.

Words can't describe the frightening experience this video captures, made all the more horrifying by a lack of clear visual footage. It's the audio from inside this disastrous twister that will make your hair stand on end.

YouTube user izelsg, who uploaded the video of the Joplin tornado, wrote this about it:


The video i took while at Fastrip on east 20th street. We huddled in the back of the store until the glass got sucked out , then ran into the walk in storage fridge. Sorry for the lack of visuals but the audio is pretty telling of how intense the storm was. The tornado hits at around 1:20 seconds.












The images on the news look absolutely devastating!!

Early reports are claiming that this is the worst Tornado to hit the US in over 100 years

Some candles those poor soles lost RIP

Reeling Missouri city braces for a possible second punch

JOPLIN, Mo. — A vast swath of the United States could be hit by severe thunderstorms Tuesday, with a high risk of tornadoes in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri, forecasters are warning.

The highest risk area for severe weather Tuesday extends from south-central Oklahoma to south-central Kansas.

As rescue crews dug through piles of splintered houses and crushed cars in a search for victims of a half-mile-wide tornado that killed at least 117 people in Joplin, Mo., one expert said the severe weather was not over, "not by a long shot."

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The Joplin tornado was the deadliest single twister in the U.S. in nearly 60 years and the second major tornado disaster in less than a month.

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And there you have it folks! The Republicans have gone from the "party of no" to the party of hell no!

WTH is the matter with these folks anyway?

Big Christians! Big Americans!

Sickening!

Cantor Says Congress Won’t Pay For Missouri Disaster Relief Unless Spending Is Cut Elsewhere

Firefighters and rescue workers who arrived in Joplin, MO, found that the deadly tornado that hit the state Sunday had left a “barren, smoky wasteland” in its path. Rescue workers worked through more storms in an effort to find potential survivors, even as the death toll rose to at least 119. President Obama pledged full support to the state Monday, telling survivors, “We’re here with you. We’re going to stay by you.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), however, said that before Congress approved federal funds for disaster relief, it had to offset the spending with cuts to other programs. The Washington Times reports:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Monday that if Congress passes an emergency spending bill to help Missouri’s tornado victims, the extra money will have to be cut from somewhere else.

“If there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental,” Mr. Cantor, Virginia Republican, told reporters at the Capitol. The term “pay-fors” is used by lawmakers to signal cuts or tax increases used to pay for new spending.

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