JOPLIN, Mo. – Authorities are assessing the damage and rescuers are combing through wreckage this morning in Joplin, Mo, where a massive tornado hidden by rain made a direct hit on the city of 50,000 Sunday evening. At least 89 people died in the storm, city manager Mark Rohr told ABC Radio. The tornado went through the central part of Joplin, tore off the top two stories off a hospital and smashed a helicopter. Red Cross volunteer Marie Colby told ABC she saw huge tractor-trailers fly through the air and the storm threw houses, cars and debris everywhere. Red Cross volunteer Marie Colby saw huge tractor-trailers fly through the air: “ We saw a semi-truck in front of us flip over,” she said. “And then another one up and over a little ways, get picked up, thrown in the air and actually tossed over into the ditch.”
Monday, May 23, 8:30 a.m.
