FTA Hacker
New member
(CNN) -- For the third time in a month, President Barack Obama on Sunday plans to visit a community savaged by a terrible act of nature, comfort survivors who've lost everything and talk with local leaders about rebuilding.
This time, Obama is scheduled to visit Joplin, Missouri. A week ago, a twister packing winds of more than 200 mph ripped through the town, destroying neighborhoods and killing more people than any other U.S. tornado since modern record-keeping began in 1950.
Early Sunday morning, Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr told CNN the death toll was 142. State authorities have released the names of 73 victims. More than 90 people are missing.
The list includes 1-year-old Hayze Howard, the youngest identified victim, and Nancy E. Douthitt, 94, the oldest, according to the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
The list also includes Will Norton, an 18-year-old whose disappearance during the storm attracted national attention. The May 22 twister swept Norton out of the arms of his father as the two drove home from the son's high school graduation.
Obama's scheduled visit comes exactly one month after he visited Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where a tornado of similar force had ripped through the city and killed 41 people.
Two tornado-wracked towns unite through tragedy, charity
And on May 16, the president traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to meet people displaced from their homes by a historic Mississippi River flood.
Along with touring damage sites, Obama is scheduled to join Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon at a special memorial service at Missouri Southern State University in honor of those killed and the thousands more affected by the tornado. The president will deliver brief remarks at the service, according to a statement released by the White House.
At 5:41 p.m. Sunday, exactly one week after the EF-5 tornado touched down in Joplin, the city will observe a moment of silence for the victims, including those who have yet to be identified and others that may yet be found.
"We're still in search-and-rescue mode," Rohr said Saturday, adding that more than 500 search-and-rescue volunteers were in Joplin on Saturday working.
Faith comes to the forefront on Sunday in Joplin
Andrea Spillars, deputy director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety, acknowledged Saturday that families waiting for information on missing relatives are frustrated that the identification process hasn't proceeded quickly enough the past week.
Authorities are relying on scientific identification of the remains. While that process is slower, it's more reliable than a family member's visual identification, Spillars said.
Authorities are using past X-rays, dental records and body markings to help identify bodies, Spillars said.
"We will go through this process as quickly as possible, knowing how important it is to be accurate," she said. "We know that this has been a community that has been tragically impacted by this."
More than 50 state troopers were working around the clock on the cases, she added.
Norton's body was found Friday by divers in a pond close to where his vehicle had been. The tornado destroyed the Hummer H3 he and his father were in. A relative said the teen's father did all he could to keep his son from being swept away by the tornado
"Mark (Norton's father) said that he reached over and he grabbed Will with both of his arms," said Tracey Presslor, Norton's aunt. "He held on to him until he possibly couldn't anymore, and so he's feeling really bad about that because as a dad you don't want to ever let go of your kids."
"You want to protect them forever, Presslor said as she cried. "But at least we know that he did absolutely everything he possibly could."
This time, Obama is scheduled to visit Joplin, Missouri. A week ago, a twister packing winds of more than 200 mph ripped through the town, destroying neighborhoods and killing more people than any other U.S. tornado since modern record-keeping began in 1950.
Early Sunday morning, Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr told CNN the death toll was 142. State authorities have released the names of 73 victims. More than 90 people are missing.
The list includes 1-year-old Hayze Howard, the youngest identified victim, and Nancy E. Douthitt, 94, the oldest, according to the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
The list also includes Will Norton, an 18-year-old whose disappearance during the storm attracted national attention. The May 22 twister swept Norton out of the arms of his father as the two drove home from the son's high school graduation.
Obama's scheduled visit comes exactly one month after he visited Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where a tornado of similar force had ripped through the city and killed 41 people.
Two tornado-wracked towns unite through tragedy, charity
And on May 16, the president traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to meet people displaced from their homes by a historic Mississippi River flood.
Along with touring damage sites, Obama is scheduled to join Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon at a special memorial service at Missouri Southern State University in honor of those killed and the thousands more affected by the tornado. The president will deliver brief remarks at the service, according to a statement released by the White House.
At 5:41 p.m. Sunday, exactly one week after the EF-5 tornado touched down in Joplin, the city will observe a moment of silence for the victims, including those who have yet to be identified and others that may yet be found.
"We're still in search-and-rescue mode," Rohr said Saturday, adding that more than 500 search-and-rescue volunteers were in Joplin on Saturday working.
Faith comes to the forefront on Sunday in Joplin
Andrea Spillars, deputy director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety, acknowledged Saturday that families waiting for information on missing relatives are frustrated that the identification process hasn't proceeded quickly enough the past week.
Authorities are relying on scientific identification of the remains. While that process is slower, it's more reliable than a family member's visual identification, Spillars said.
Authorities are using past X-rays, dental records and body markings to help identify bodies, Spillars said.
"We will go through this process as quickly as possible, knowing how important it is to be accurate," she said. "We know that this has been a community that has been tragically impacted by this."
More than 50 state troopers were working around the clock on the cases, she added.
Norton's body was found Friday by divers in a pond close to where his vehicle had been. The tornado destroyed the Hummer H3 he and his father were in. A relative said the teen's father did all he could to keep his son from being swept away by the tornado
"Mark (Norton's father) said that he reached over and he grabbed Will with both of his arms," said Tracey Presslor, Norton's aunt. "He held on to him until he possibly couldn't anymore, and so he's feeling really bad about that because as a dad you don't want to ever let go of your kids."
"You want to protect them forever, Presslor said as she cried. "But at least we know that he did absolutely everything he possibly could."
