JOPLIN, Mo. — Rescue teams continued searching through debris in Joplin on Wednesday while others hunted relatives and friends whom they haven’t heard from since a deadly tornado roared through the city Sunday.
Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr said at a news conference Wednesday that the number of people who died in the tornado has risen to 125.
Three bodies were found late Tuesday, but no one was were found Wednesday, Rohr said.
He said more than 100 people were working to input data and cross-reference the names of people missing.Reports that put the number of missing at 1,500 were high, he said.
“That number has been pared down because of cross referencing.”
He said it’s not possible to know how many people were rescued because neighbors have been rescuing neighbors.
“A lot of it was ad hoc,” he said. “You had neighbors helping other neighbors out of a basement. The fire chief stopped and helped people. You could have had thousands of those incidents, I don’t know.”
The Zimmer Radio Group, which operates seven broadcast stations in Joplin, is focusing some of its programming on helping people find those who are unaccounted for.
“We’ve been on [the air] wall-to-wall since 4 o’clock on Sunday, an hour and a half before the storm started,” said reporter Joe Lancello. “Now, it’s along the lines of getting information to people about available shelters. We’ve had alot of people calling trying to find loved ones.”
Lancello said he didn’t know how many people had found family members by calling the radio station, which broadcast the pleas along with telephone numbers.
“I had a call from a guy yesterday,” said Lancello. “He said, ‘People say I’m missing. No, I’m not.’”
The EF5 twister - the strongest rating assigned to tornadoes - hit Joplin at 5:41 p.m. Sunday. In addition to deaths, 750 were injured.
The tornado was the deadliest single twister since the National Weather Service began keeping official records in 1950 and the eighth-deadliest in U.S. history. Scientists said it appeared to be a rare “multivortex” tornado, with two or more small and intense centers of rotation orbiting the larger funnel.
Since Sunday, other violent storms have followed, slamming into Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. This week’s storms - counting the one in Joplin - have killed at least 140 people, injured hundreds and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.
In Joplin, a city of 50,000 people, a command center has been set up in the student center at Missouri Southern State University to help people find relatives and friends. About 1,500 people had called in as of Wednesday, said Candice Nail, a volunteer with AmeriCorps. She said many of those calls could have been duplications. In some cases, three family members might call looking for the same relative, she said.
“With phone service so sketchy, even if you’re in town and you’re fine, you can’t get a hold of people,” she said.
Also, a Joplin tornado survivors Facebook page has been set up to help people locate those who are believed to be missing. By 4 p.m. Wednesday, 8,550 people had “liked” the Facebook page.
Social networks have been useful to some in tracking down the missing or letting their loved ones know they are OK.
Sunday’s twister also ravaged Joplin schools, and classes have been canceled for the rest of the school year. But, district officials are trying to locate faculty members and many of the school’s 2,200 students. The effort has been crippled by downed phone lines. Facebook has helped in locating some of those students.
“We just want to be able to find who we can find, and then as confirmation happens, offer support to the families if we find out that a kid didn’t make it,” Joplin High Principal Kerry Sachetta said.
On Wednesday, rescue and recovery work went on, with crews repeating grid searches that started immediately after the storm.
Rohr and Fire Chief Mitch Randles declined to speculate about whether the death toll will grow substantially. It wasn’t clear Wednesday when the focus of the search operation would switch from rescuing people to recovering bodies.
Randles said rescuers are confident that no additional bodies will be found at one of the hardest-hit areas in Joplin, a Home Depot store that was flattened by the tornado.
Bob Benson, a Red Cross official who set up a “Safe and Well” registry at a shelter on the Missouri Southern State University campus, said a small number of parents have arrived looking for their lost children.
Also, more than 100 people have approached him seeking information about missing senior citizens.
Rohr said identifying the dead has been slow, in part because DNA testing is being done to determine who some of the victims are.
“It’s my understanding it’s a lengthy process - a number of days anyway,” Rohr said.
“In a situation like this, you want to make sure you have everything positive.”
Rohr said Joplin is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state and local officials to help people get disaster assistance. Those in need can call (417) 659-5464 or go online to www.disasterassistance. gov, he said.
When asked about FEMA’s response to the disaster, Rohr said, “To this point in time, I think it’s excellent. Better than I expected. I think they have gone the extra mile to work with us and offer the assistance that we need.” Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 05/26/2011