JOPLIN, Mo. — Bill Davis, head meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Springfield, did not mince words Tuesday when he described the tornado that struck Joplin on Sunday.

“There were a few little swirling vortexes, and then it came down like a fist coming right out of the sky,” he said.

Davis, part of a team that arrived in Joplin on Monday to assess the damage, said the tornado that struck Joplin was the most powerful of all on the Enhanced Fujita Scale — an EF-5. Wind speeds exceeded 200 mph.

The tornado is now ranked as the single deadliest since modern record-keeping began in 1950. It surpasses the June 8, 1953, tornado that claimed 116 lives in Flint, Mich.

The deadliest tornado in the United States was on March 18, 1925. The “Tri-State Tornado” had a 291-mile path across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing 695 people. On that list, Joplin’s tornado is now ranked at No. 8.

Davis briefed the media during a news conference at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Cunningham Park in which city officials confirmed that more bodies have been recovered and more people have been rescued from the debris field.



DEATH TOLL

The death toll increased from 116 on Monday to 122 on Tuesday, according to Mark Rohr, city manager. But that number was increased to 123 by Jasper County Coroner Rob Chappel, who said he expects to see more bodies pulled from the rubble.

Two people, buried by debris, were pulled Tuesday from the wreckage of an unidentified commercial building and from the basement of a residence. That means a total of nine people have been rescued since Monday. A previous report that 17 people had been rescued on Monday was inaccurate.

Among the dead are a 5-year-old student at St. Mary’s Elementary School, her 2-year-old brother and their father who were killed at Home Depot. Their deaths were confirmed Tuesday by Steve Jones, principal at St. Mary’s. He would not disclose their identities because of family considerations.

“She would have been in kindergarten next year,” Jones said, his voice breaking with emotion.

Seven bodies were found beneath a fallen concrete slab at Home Depot on Monday. One survivor was pulled from the rubble.



REPORTING SERVICE

Rohr said the city is trying to ascertain how many people have not been accounted for based on missing-person reports and other information. He encouraged individuals who have moved out of the area or made other living arrangements to dial 417-659-5464 to report their location.

The potential scope of the exodus from Joplin of people displaced by the tornado was revealed by Rohr when he noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that 8,000 structures, including individual apartments in complexes, were destroyed. The tornado affected 1,800 acres or about 30 percent of the city.

As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, about 14,000 customers of Empire District Electric Co. were without service. By using storm-path data from FEMA, Empire has established that about 10,000 customers are within the area devastated by the tornado.

Davis said the upgraded rating of the tornado to EF-5 was based on specific damage observed at several sites along the tornado’s six-mile path. One of those sites was Franklin Technology Center just west of Joplin High School. Another site was a bank where all but the vault was destroyed. Another example was a steel-reinforced, block building that was destroyed near the Home Depot store.

Davis said another sign of winds in excess of 200 mph is well-constructed houses that have been leveled to their foundations.



TORNADO STATISTICS

Andy Boxell, a meteorologist with the weather service station at Springfield, said there are about 1,200 tornadoes a year in the United States.

“We usually have less than one EF-5 a year. It’s more like one every other year,” he said.

Davis said structural experts and engineers will be visiting Joplin in the days ahead to see what they can learn from the buildings that were destroyed and those that survived. He said St. John’s Regional Medical Center was designed to survive 300 mph winds.

“This is an opportunity to learn things,” he said. “It’s not every day that a nine-story hospital gets hit. In the case of St. John’s, air moved through the building when the windows blew out.”

Five patients and a visitor were killed at St. John’s, and about 180 patients were successfully evacuated.

Miranda Lewis, spokeswoman for St. John’s, on Tuesday said the medical center will continue to be a part of the Joplin community. Just what that means will be announced at a news conference at 9 a.m. today.

“Mercy has been in this community since 1896,” she said. “We have absolutely every reason for staying here.”

Engineers and hospital officials have been assessing the structure to determine whether it can be salvaged or should be rebuilt.

The hospital is encouraging patients to visit its Express Care location at 13th Street and Range Line Road. The hospital also has set up temporary operations at Memorial Hall where it is equipped to take care of critical-care patients.

Lewis said that on Sunday night and Monday, St. John’s personnel saw 250 people at Memorial Hall. On Tuesday, they saw between 50 and 75 patients.



IDENTIFICATION EFFORTS

Chappel, the coroner, said efforts to identify the dead are ongoing. A DNA expert summoned to help with the procedure was delayed in arriving, but is on the scene to assist in confirming the known dead and gathering clues that could be used to identify those whose identities are not known.

Asked if DNA will be obtained from all victims or only those who are unknown, the coroner said, “We will do all of them because you can’t go back or you can’t easily if (some) families decide to cremate victims.”

Many of the dead have been found in the retail centers that were hit, such as the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 1515 S. Range Line Road, but the fatalities were widespread through the debris field, Chappel said.

No names of those identified are to be released until their identities are confirmed by techniques such as visual confirmation, DNA, dental records and X-rays. Chappel said that could take some time, especially for those whose identification is unknown. The unknown numbered 30 on Monday.

Local funeral homes said they had not received any of the victims’ bodies as of Tuesday.

“This is the kind of business you don’t want,” said John Dillon, of Thornhill-Dillon Mortuary in Joplin. He said he does not anticipate any services to start until perhaps next week.

Richard Russell, of Parker Mortuary, said family members who contact a hot line to report missing persons or ask if a missing relative’s body has been found will be asked a series of questions to establish identification. They will be asked what funeral home should be contacted when authorities begin releasing the victims’ bodies, he said.

On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Nixon and U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill viewed the damage from a National Guard helicopter. In a separate helicopter was U.S. Rep. Billy Long. U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt toured the site on the ground.

Long said: “A tour from the air changes your whole idea of the magnitude of this. It’s clear Joplin will live with a horrific situation that will go on for a long time.”

Long said he was pleased with the response by Nixon and the way officials with FEMA have streamlined the process for Joplin’s disaster declaration. He said he intends to monitor FEMA to make sure the agency stays on top of the situation.



PRESIDENT OBAMA

Mayor Mike Woolston said President Barack Obama will visit Joplin on Sunday, according to statements by Nixon and officials with FEMA. Police Chief Lane Roberts said the visit will be handled by the U.S. Secret Service in a way that will not create additional burden for the Joplin Police Department.

Roberts said police have investigated fewer than a dozen reports of looting.

Woolston said the outpouring of support for Joplin has been worldwide in its scope. He said he was especially touched when he received a call from the mayor of Tuscaloosa, Ala., which was hit by a tornado in April.

Noting how neighbors are helping neighbors and how city employees who have lost their homes are working round-the-clock to help, he said: “The story is not about this tornado. The story is about the spirit of the people.”



STAFF WRITERS Debby Woodin, Kevin McClintock and Andy Ostmeyer contributed to this report.