토네이도로 미중부 대형 참사: Twister Cut Joplin in half in Missouri State

몇 일전 5월 21일 오후 6시에 지구가 멸망하고 휴거(Rapture)가 일어날 것으로 세계를 떠들썩하게 만들었던 Camping이라는 목사의 어처구니 없는 해프닝은 과거에도 있었던 것처럼 사라져 갔다. 노아 홍수 이후 어떻게 계산하였는지는 모르나 그날이 꼭 7000일 되는 날이라며 온 재산과 생활과 마음을 빼았긴 수많은 추종자들이 이제 어떻게 행동을 할찌 주목하고 있다. 회사를 그만둔 것은 물론 401K등의 은퇴구좌까지 다 꺼내어 Pamphlet 등의 마켓팅 비용도 수 백만 달러에 달한다고 보도하였다.

그런데 오늘 들려온 뉴스는 정말로 지구 종말을 예고하는 듯 계속되는 토네이도로 미중부의 적은 도시 Joplin에서 어제 오후 6시경 발생한 토네이도로 현재 사망 116명에 막대한 재산 피해를 받았다. 참사 현장은 상상을 초월한 참혹한 상황이라 뉴스를 전하는 기자도 중간에 목이 메어 버렸다. 3월부터 발생한 토네이도로 인한 피해는 6개 주에서 사망이 500 명에 달한다. 걱정스러운 것은 앞으로도 토네이도가 거의 같은 지역에서 계속되리라는 예상이다. 카나다로부터의 찬 공기와 멕시코 만으로부터의 더운 공기가 만날 때 발생하므로  중부 평야 지대에 지리적 특성 상 집중 발생하는 것이다. 

근자에 변화하는 기후가 불길한 징조를 알리는지 피해는 과거와는 달리 너무 심하다. 특히 미국 중부 지방에는 하루에도 수 십개의 토네이도로 새로운 공포가 주민을 위축시키며 삶의 걱정거리로 나타났다. 인간과 자연과의 싸움이라고 말하기도 하지만 자연에 순응하면서 다시 일어나는 인간의 불굴의 정신을 높이는 말이다. 어떤 절망과 고난이 와도 다시 일어서지만 주위의 도움으로 그들의 마음을 어루만지고 재기하도록 도와야 한다. 

어느 누구도 이런 불의의 재난에서 자유로울 수 없다. 그러기에 서로의 상처를 돌보고 위하여 땀을 흘릴 때 돕는 자도 새로운 교훈과 감사의 마음을 알게 된다. 볼수록 너무 심하여 어떻게 저들이 엄청난 재난에서 헤어날까? 하는 걱정이 앞선다. 만약에 내가 순간에 가장 귀하게 여기며 살았던 것들을 잃었다면? 생각도 할 수 없는 참사가 현대 사회에 너무 빈번하게 발생하여 대부분은 무감각하게 여기며 지내고 있다. 과학의 발달로 지구 구석구석의 소식이 실시간으로 전달되고 있는 시대에 살고 있는 우리는 어쩌면 무감각해야 살지 그렇지 않으면 그 많은 비극을 접하면서 살지 못할 것이다. 


하지만 주위의 어려움을 겪은 사람을 돌보아야 하는 것은 인간의 도리이고 책임이다. 희생자들의 명복을 빌고 살아 남은 가족들 그리고 수 많은 이재민들이 빨리 재기하며 슬픔과 충격에서 벗어나기를 기도한다.

Joplin, Missouri

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Cut the city in half: Death toll rises to 89 in Missouri Tornado

A massive tornado — the deadliest in Missouri's history — tore through the city of Joplin on Sunday, killing at least 89 people. Authorities fear the death toll could climb Monday as search and rescue teams continue their work.

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.

Much of the city's south side was leveled, with churches, schools, businesses and homes reduced to ruins.

Fire chief Mitch Randles estimated that 25 to 30 percent of the city was damaged, and said his own home was among the buildings destroyed as the twister swept through this city of about 50,000 people some 160 miles south of Kansas City.

"It cut the city in half," Randles said.

People are just scrambling. Multiple homes and businesses destroyed, mangled vehicles and debris everywhere you look," Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Bettes reported. "The damage is absolutely immense here in Joplin."

Severe weather was expected to continue throughout Monday, according to The Weather Channel.

An unknown number of people were injured in the storm, and officials said patients were scattered to any nearby hospitals that could take them.

The same storm system that produced the Joplin tornado spawned twisters across a broad swath of the Midwest, from Oklahoma to Wisconsin. At least one person was killed in Minneapolis. But the devastation in Missouri appeared to be the worst of the day, eerily reminiscent of the tornadoes that killed more than 300 people across the South last month.

As the toll currently stands, the Joplin storm is the deadliest single tornado since the Worcester, Mass., tornado of June 9, 1953, which killed 90 people. If Joplin's toll increases further, it would surpass Worcester and start approaching the toll from a deadly storm that hit the previous day in 1953, when 115 died in Flint, Mich.

Door-to-door search 
A door-to-door search of the damaged area was to begin Monday morning, but authorities were expected to move gingerly around downed power lines, jagged debris and a series of gas leaks that caused fires around the city overnight.

"We will recover and come back stronger than we are today," Rohr said defiantly of his city's future.

St. John's Regional Medical Center appeared to suffer a direct hit from a tornado. The staff had just a few moments' notice to hustle patients into hallways before the storm struck the multistory building, blowing out hundreds of windows and leaving the facility useless.

In the parking lot, a helicopter lay crushed on its side, its rotors torn apart and windows smashed. Nearby, a pile of cars lay crumpled into a single mass of twisted metal.

Triage centers and shelters were set up around the city.

Emergency management officials rushed heavy equipment to Joplin to help lift debris and clear the way for search and recovery operations. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency, and President Barack Obama sent condolences to families of those who died in storms in Joplin and across the Midwest.

Jeff Lehr, a reporter for the Joplin Globe, said he was upstairs in his home when the storm hit but was able to make his way to a basement closet.

"There was a loud huffing noise, my windows started popping. I had to get downstairs, glass was flying. I opened a closet and pulled myself into it," he told The Associated Press. "Then you could hear everything go. It tore the roof off my house, everybody's house. I came outside and there was nothing left."

Joplin resident Ken Ayton told NBC's TODAY that he credits his dogs with helping him survive.

"They were going crazy, and I realized something was wrong, so I brought them in, and then the sirens went off."

As the tornado ripped through his neighborhood, Ayton, who could see the oncoming storm from his bathroom, decided to seek shelter in his bathtub.

"I had heard of houses being leveled and people being saved by being in the bathtub...I covered up with the pillows, and waited to see what would happen."

The tub — near an outside wall of his home — kept Ayton safe, but it was a harrowing experience.

Details about fatalities and injuries were difficult to obtain even for emergency management officials, because the tornado knocked out power, landline phones and some cellphone towers, said Greg Hickman, assistant emergency management director in Newton County.

Triage centers and shelters were setup around the city. At Memorial Hall, a downtown entertainment venue, nurses and other emergency workers were treating critically injured patients.

Debris was carried up to 60 miles away, with medical records, X-rays, insulation and other items falling to the ground in Greene County, said Larry Woods, assistant director of the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management.
Twisters in Kansas City Area after 14 Killed in 3 States on May 24 2011
A tornado warning was issued for areas of Kansas and Missouri. Less severe tornado watches were issued for parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

The storms will be racing east and then begin to weaken after midnight as they approach Louisville and Cincinnati, said Kevin Roth, lead meteorologist for The Weather Channel.

High-powered storms earlier injured dozens and killed at least eight people in Oklahoma, four in Arkansas and two in Kansas.

The storms extended into North Texas, where 10,000 people spent the night at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, according to airport spokeswoman Sarah McDaniel. Golf ball-sized hail was reported at the airport, and 65 airplanes were pulled out of service because of possible hail damage, she said.

That led to the cancellation of 200 flights last night and another 100 on Wednesday, McDaniel said. In addition, 61 flights scheduled to land at the airport were diverted elsewhere. There were no injuries at the airport, she said.

The Tuesday storms arrived as forecast just two days after a massive tornado tore through Joplin, Mo., killing at least 125 people.

A recovery crew looks for bodies on Wednesday, May 25 in a destroyed church after a devastating tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. The death toll from a monster tornado that ravaged Joplin, Missouri, rose to 125 on Wednesday after an overnight search turned up more bodies but no new survivors, authorities said.

An aerial image of Joplin, Mo., shot on May 24, shows the remains of Joplin High School two days after an EF5 tornado touched down and destroyed a large portion of the town. The image was collected by digital imaging aircraft owned by M.J. Harden, a GeoEye Company. Harden flew an emergency mission for Missouri state officials to provide insight on relief efforts and emergency response.

Flags are placed around what's left of Joplin High School on May 26.

Scott Taylor checks on Sue Dillman shortly after a severe storm tore the roof off her home in Bloomington on May 25. Dillman's home and surrounding barns were heavily damaged.

Lori Haun removes the house letters from what remains of her devastated Joplin home on May 25

Shirley Waits cries as she stands in what is left of her mother's home Wednesday, in Joplin , Mo.

Rebecca Watts walks by a car stuck in a tree after a tornado hit north of El Reno, Okla. on Tuesday. The high-powered storms arrived Tuesday night and early Wednesday, just days after a massive tornado tore up the southwest Missouri city of Joplin.

A half-mile-wide tornado moves north towards Piedmont, Okla. Tuesday, May 24.

It sounded like a Train

TV Crews Captures Huge Tornado

Searchers Work  to find the Missing

Williams on Joplin Devastation: It's not Fair

Incredible Stories of Twister Survival

Joplin High School sophomore Landan Taylor makes has way across the wreckage of the school's theater in Joplin, Mo., Tuesday. At least 125 people were killed and hundreds more injured when a tornado cut a destructive path through Joplin on Sunday evening. Classes at all Joplin schools have been canceled for the rest of the schoolyear after four schools were damaged or destroyed.

An official searches for a missing child near the lake shore after a tornado ripped through the Falcon Lake area of Piedmont, Oklahoma, Tuesday. Several tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma on Tuesday afternoon, the largest one striking El Reno, west of Oklahoma City, and continuing to the northeast, the National Weather Service said.

The remains of the house owned by Scott and M'Lynn McCann that was destroyed by a tornado west of El Reno, Okla., are shown Tuesday. Authorities say a series of tornadoes rolled through Oklahoma City and its suburbs at rush hour Tuesday.

Armando Castillo retrieves personal items out of his truck that he was driving when it was swept off I-40 and destroyed by a tornado west of El Reno, Okla., Tuesday.

Ken Haebaum stands in his mud-splattered kitchen after a tornado ripped through the Falcon Lake area of Piedmont, Okla., on Tuesday. Haebaum and his wife sought shelter from the tornado in the hallway behind the door on the right side of the photo.

Jeannie Owens searches through a family member's destroyed home in Joplin, Mo., on Tuesday, May 24. A devastating tornado hit the day before, leaving hundreds dead or injured

Paul Wright attempts to salvage items from a family member's home in Joplin, Mo. on May 24.

Kyle and Alicia Gordon of Joplin, Mo., embrace in what's left of their son's room.

Images of Devastation that Go on Forever

Bird's eye view of Joplin

The path of the powerful tornado that destroyed a 6-mile-long swath of Joplin, Mo. is seen May 24.

Dina Meek and her daughter Maddie, 9, salvage what they can from her sister-in-law's home.

Ernie Darby removes a table from a debris site.

Members of the Missouri Task Force One search-and-rescue team work at the Home Depot store in Joplin on May 24.

Massive Damage in Okalahoma 5/24/11

Tornadoes Rip through Oklahoma

On the Front Lines of Tornado Onslaught

Mangled cars are inside a destroyed Joplin apartment complex.

Volunteers look for survivors in the rubble of a home.

Water spurts from a broken water line in a destroyed Joplin home on May 24 as Lindsay Grundy, left, and Dana Moritz search for their grandmother's belongings

The view of a destroyed Joplin apartment complex on May 24.

A vehicle on May 24 sits in the debris of a cell phone tower that collapsed onto an apartment building on the east side of Joplin.

Greg Beeching, left, and his son Brian Beeching move a washer and dryer out of a relative's damaged apartment in Joplin on May 24.

The hard-hit St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin as well as dozens of destroyed homes are seen on May 24.
Deadly Tornadoes Batter Central US

Twister Kills 89 in Joplin, MO City

Wild Weather Whips Across Midwest

Four Days of Fury

Lightning from a severe thunderstorm flashes in the distance beyond a crucifix in a cemetery near Easton, Kan., Saturday, May 21.

Kathleen Kelsey, a canine rescue specialist with the Missouri Task Force One search-and-rescue team, guides a live-find dog named ChicoDog through the wreckage of a public housing complex in Joplin, Mo., May 23.

A law officer sits in his vehicle facing what is left of the high school after a large tornado hit the town of Joplin, Mo., May 23

Volunteers clear rubble as they look for survivors after a devastating tornado hit Joplin, Mo., May 23

A couple walk near a building destroyed by a tornado that hit Joplin, Mo., May 23.

Janet Martin attempts to salvage medication and mementos from her brother's home before a second storm moves in, May 23, in Joplin, Mo. "Twenty minutes before the storm, he left to go to church. He would have been in that basement if he hadn't gone," Martin said.

Ernie Darby hugs his son Davis Darby as they salvage what they can from their house after it was destroyed by a massive tornado in Joplin, Mo., May 24

Debris from destroyed homes, May 24, in Joplin, Mo., after a destructive tornado swept through Joplin on Sunday evening, killing at least 116 and injuring hundreds more

Lacy Tasker salvages what she can from her mother's house after it was destroyed when a massive tornado passed through Joplin, Mo., on Tuesday, May 24, 2011. Rescue workers are searching for survivors as the threat of further storms still looms.

A pool of blood remains on the floor of a business in Joplin, Mo., on Monday.

Ted Grabenauer sleeps on his front porch the morning after a tornado ripped the roof of his home in Joplin, Mo., on Monday.

Rescue workers in lime-green jackets search St. John's hospital in Joplin, Mo. on Monday.

This Joplin neighborhood was almost completely flattened

Joplin was not the only area that saw a twister over the weekend. Reading, Kan., also was hit, with one person killed. This grain elevator was part of the debris field there on Monday

People look at what is left of homes on Monday, May 23, after a large tornado hit Joplin, Mo, on Sunday. Dozens were killed and the tornado caused damage to a large portion of the town and the city's hospital and school 

Emergency workers wait for a medical team after finding a body in a destroyed car in Joplin, Mo., in the early hours of Monday, May 23. A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses.

Utility workers clear downed power lines near the St. John's hospital early on Monday after the devastating tornado hit Joplin, Mo.

An emergency worker searches a Walmart store that was severely damaged by the tornado that hit Joplin, Mo., on May 22.

Emergency vehicles line up along northbound Rangeline Road in Joplin, Mo. after the tornado swept through the city on Sunday evening

Joplin residents help a woman who survived in her basement when the tornado hit the city on Sunday.

William Jackson, left, and Ashley Martin, volunteer firefighters from Oklahoma, survey the wreckage of destroyed homes in Joplin, Mo., on May 22.

Two rescuers try to pull a woman from a destroyed building in Joplin, Mo., after a tornado struck the city on May 22.

A man carries a young girl who was rescued after being trapped with her mother in their home after the tornado hit Joplin, Mo. on May 22.

A destroyed helicopter lies on its side in the parking lot of the Joplin Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., on May 22.

Rescuers and neighbors look through the the wreckage of destroyed homes on a hillside in Joplin, Mo., on May 22.

A triage team treats wounded people at a triage station set up at 26th and Main Streets in Joplin, Mo. after the tornado swept through the city on May 22.

Emergency personnel walk through a neighborhood severely damaged by a tornado near the Joplin Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., on May 22.

Damage to St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo. is shown after it was hit by the tornado on May 22.

A pickup truck with what look to be two rescue workers and two injured people weaves in and out of traffic to get to Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, Mo.

A tractor trailer is tipped over on Interstate 44 near Joplin, Mo., after the town was hit by a tornado on May 22.

A woman talks on the phone from a roofless garage after a tornado struck northern Minneapolis, May 22, causing extensive property damage, killing at least one person and injuring at least 18 others.

Lucas Wickander, 13, shows off the skinned knuckles he received after diving under a porch to escape a tornado that struck northern Minneapolis, May 22.

This photo taken Saturday, May 21, looking east from S.W. 37th and Wanamaker shows funnel clouds above Topeka, Kan., at around 6:20 p.m

Damage to the Reading, Kan., post office caused by a tornado is shown May 22.

Matt Railsback, of Miller, Kan., looks at the damage on Sunday, May 22, caused by a tornado Saturday night in Reading, Kan. Miller was trapped in a storm shelter with his girlfriend in the blue house in the background. His truck was rolled end over end and came to rest at the fire station across the street.

Cleanup begins at a tornado-damaged home in Reading, Kan., May 22.

A shelf cloud containing a thunderstorm approaches tornado-ravaged Joplin, Mo., Monday, May 23, 2011. A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital, hundreds of homes and businesses and killing at least 89 people.

Mark Langford sorts through the debris looking for personal belongings after his home was destroyed when a tornado hit Joplin, Mo., on Monday, May 23.

Blocks of homes lie in total destruction after a tornado hit Joplin, Mo., on May 23.

Donald and Helen Capps of Joplin, Mo., sit in a temporary Red Cross shelter at the Robert Ellis Young Gymnasium at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo., on May 23. The Capps lost their home after a destructive tornado moved through Joplin on Sunday evening.

Surveying the Devastation in Joplin Mo

Hungry to Help, Volunteers Swarm South

Tragedy in Missouri

Storm Chaser: Overcome by Twister's Aftermath

Lineman Derrick Heisz of Broadhead, Wis., checks power poles in Pratt City, Ala., Tuesday, May 3. Utility companies are scrambling to restore services to the hard hit area before more heavy rains arrive.

Residents of Camden Court near McCulley Mill Road in Limestone County, east of Athens, Ala., leave humorous messages painted on the remains of their homes, May 3.

In this aerial view taken Monday, May 2, from the window of a NOAA flight, the path of a Wednesday's tornado can be seen as it made its way through a small town near Birmingham, Ala

John VanTiem, a chaplain with Hope Force, prays with Josephine Neal, whose brother's house was destroyed by the tornado in the Carter's Gin community, May 2, in Huntsville, Ala.

Sgt. Llanos of the U.S. Army helps fold the flag from the coffin of Donnie L. Gentry during a funeral at Pinkard Funeral Home in Russellville, Ala. Monday May, 2011. Gentry and his wife, Patricia, a second grade teacher at Phil Campbell School, were both killed in their home during the Wednesday, April 27th severe weather outbreak. (AP Photo/TimesDaily, Jim Hannon)

Volunteer Tyrone Duncan secures a blue tarp to a damaged house on May 2 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Alabama, the hardest-hit of six states, is reported to have been battered with at least an EF-4 rated tornado with the death toll across the South rising to over 300 as a result of the storms.

People rest in the sleeping area of a Red Cross Shelter on Monday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Red Cross Shelter is housing more than 260 area residents.

Utility workers replace a destroyed utility pole on May 2 in Holt, Ala.

Chance, a cadaver dog, searches for a body on May 2 in Tuscaloosa, Ala

Students prepare to head home after the University of Alabama canceled classes for the rest of the semester. While the campus in Tuscaloosa avoided a direct hit, the storm put a painful damper on the school year.

A flag flies amid debris in the devastated town of Hueytown, Ala., on Sunday. Grieving storm survivors turned to prayer and the good grace of volunteers across the South as shattered communities looked to rebuild after the second-worst tornado disaster on record.

Teressa Lambert, second from left, comforts her daughter Rachael Gaudio during a Sunday service at the site of the Church of God in Phil Campbell, Ala.

Worshippers sign a makeshift crucifix folowing a Sunday service at the site of the Church of God in Phil Campbell.

A volunteer salvages sports equipment from Alberta Elementary School in the Alberta City neighborhood of Tuscaloosa, Ala., May 1.

Ruth Cole becomes emotional while digging through her destroyed business on May 1, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Cole had no insurance on her business or her home, which was also destroyed in the storm. Alabama, the hardest-hit of six states, is reported to have been battered with at least an EF-4 rated tornado with the death toll across the South rising to over 300 as a result of the storms.

In an April 30 photo, relatives of Kathy Gray Haney gather near the grave after her burial in Pisgah, Ala., with tornado-damaged trees in the background. The neighborhood where the Gray family lived was hit by two tornadoes within a 10-hour period, killing Gray Haney and two other relatives.

Family and friends help roll a car upright at Ron Nichols' home, Saturday, April 30, in Hackleburg, Ala., following the massive tornado that leveled portions of the town Wednesday.

Nine-year-old Eric Chaney collects toys, April 30, for a family friend who survived but was left orphaned, after his home was destroyed by a tornado, in Phil Campbell, Ala.

Workers work on the roof of a damaged historic building with a mural in Cullman, Ala., April 30.

Ernst Storey, right, and volunteer Kim Whitten, left, pray after Storey registered for disaster assistance for his mother at a an elementary school in the tornado ravaged neighborhood of Pratt City in Birmingham, Ala., on April 30.

A man, seen through a broken window, walks his dog through the tornado ravaged Fan Road neighborhood of Pleasant Grove, Ala., on April 30.

Daniel Mulder hugs his wife Rachael near their destroyed home in Tuscaloosa, Ala., April 30. Mulder and his wife survived the Wednesday tornado hiding in a tub before coming to the assistance of their neighbors.

Michael Glasgow, 37, shows the injuries he sustained from the tornado on Wednesday that took the lives of his three-month-old son Chase Zion Glasgow and his 42-year-old sister Tammi Glasgow at what is left of his home Saturday, April 29, in Cleveland, Tenn.

Tracy Hannah reacts after returning to her house for the first time since a tornado swept through the Alberta community near Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Friday

Michael Hodges looks for salvageable items in the rubble of a law office in the Albert neighborhood of Tuscaloosa on Friday.

President Barack Obama tours a destroyed neighborhood in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Friday. "I've never seen devastation like this," he said.