President Obama Announces Plans To Visit Tornado-Ravaged Joplin
Earlier this morning, Barack Obama announced plans to visit the state of Missouri this coming weekend, as soon as he finishes his current tour of Europe. Obama made this statement to the traveling press pool who found themselves with the president in the garden of the American ambassador’s house, a stark comparison to the disaster currently unfolding in Joplin after tornadoes decimated that Southwestern town of Missouri.
ABCNews.com reports:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who are suffering at this moment,” Obama said, announcing his Sunday visit to the region. “And all we can do is let them know that all of America cares deeply about them and that we are going to do absolutely everything we can to make sure that they recover.”
Obama also acknowledged that more storms are headed for the region today, as a warning of new tornado outbreaks was issued for the central region of the United States early Tuesday by an Oklahoma storm prediction center.
The greatest threat for tornadoes stretches from Dallas to Kansas City, according to the report. The area includes the city of Joplin, Mo., where rescue workers are racing to salvage survivors from the wreckage left by a tornado that destroyed an estimated 30 percent of the city on Sunday.
The death toll from the monster tornado that ripped through Joplin soared to 116 by Monday night, making it the deadliest single tornado in nearly 60 years, according to federal records.
On Monday Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon told The Associated Press of the death toll, “Clearly, it’s on its way up.”
The massive Joplin tornado was rated as an EF-4, the second-strongest classification with winds ranging between 166 and 200 mph. The nearly mile-wide funnel touched down at 5:41 p.m. CT Sunday and blasted a six mile wide path through the city and left trapped survivors crying out for help this morning.
The devastation in southwest Missouri that has come as a result of weekend tornadoes is rather stunning, with reports now suggesting that the tornado was nearly three-quarters of a mile wide which traveled straight through town.
Watch a ABC’s Josh Elliott report on a Joplin area Wal-Mart that lays nearly in ruins.
