(via AP)
**UPDATE**
Nearly 500 people have died so far as a result of tornadoes in 2011, and Sunday evening’s tornado in Joplin, Missouri, has caused the highest death toll from a single tornado in more than 50 years. In 1953, a tornado in Flint, Mich., killed 116 people.
ABC News spoke with lead forecaster Greg Carbin of the National Weather Service’s National Severe Storm Laboratory and asked him why the 2011 tornado season has been so extraordinarily devastating.
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A massive tornado tore through the southwest Missouri city of Joplin killed at least 89 people, authorities fear that the death toll could climb as search and rescuers continued their work at sunrise.
City manager Mark Rohr announced the number of known dead at a pre-dawn news conference outside the wreckage of a hospital that took a direct hit from Sunday’s storm. Rohr said the twister cut a path nearly six miles long and more than a half-mile wide through the center of town, adding that tornado sirens gave residents about a 20-minute warning before the tornado touched down on the city’s west side.
Tornados left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Louisiana. Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
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Tornados left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Louisiana. Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
Tornados left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Louisiana. Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
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Tornados left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Louisiana. Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
Tornados left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Louisiana. Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
[pagebreak]
Tornados left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Louisiana. Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
[pagebreak]
Tornados left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Louisiana. Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
Tornados left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Louisiana. Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
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89 Dead As Major Tornado Devastates Joplin, Missouri
89 Dead As Major Tornado Devastates Joplin, Missouri
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89 Dead As Major Tornado Devastates Joplin, Missouri
89 Dead As Major Tornado Devastates Joplin, Missouri
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89 Dead As Major Tornado Devastates Joplin, Missouri
89 Dead As Major Tornado Devastates Joplin, Missouri
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