Death toll from tornado rises to 139 in Missouri

JOPLIN: The death toll from one of the worst tornadoes ever to hit the United States has risen to 139 in Joplin, Missouri, as residents struggled to pick up the pieces amid the overwhelming devastation.

Among the newly confirmed killed by the tornado that cut a path of destruction through this town of 50,000 was teenager Will Norton, who was sucked from his father's Hummer as they drove home from his high school graduation.

"It's very disheartening," Joplin spokeswoman Lynn Onstot told AFP. "He was a high school senior who had just graduated. It was a very emotional story for everyone. It touched many of us."

Crews continued searching for 96 people listed as missing, six days after the tornado tore apart everything it touched along a path four miles (six kilometers) long.

The twister, a massive funnel cloud that struck late Sunday, ranks as the single deadliest tornado to hit the United States since modern record-keeping began in 1950.

More than 8,000 structures in the Midwestern town were damaged or destroyed when the tornado packing winds over 200 miles (320 kilometers) per hour came roaring through with just a 24-minute warning.

President Barack Obama plans to attend a community memorial service on Sunday in Joplin.

Norton's family had been among those desperate to find their missing loved one. Dozens of people had been helping his family search the debris field -- even heading out in a small plane to scan areas farther a field.

"I'm sorry to tell you that Will was found but he was not alive," his aunt Tracey Presslor posted on a Facebook page set up to organize search efforts that has garnered mass outpourings of support.

"We are grieving deeply. It brightens our lives to know that even in his passing he touched lives."

She later added, in another post: "People have lost their homes and their lives. Others are still missing and we cannot give up the search for them. Please keep praying for all of Joplin, Tuscaloosa and the other communities that are suffering."

Sharyn Dawson has been searching for her 74-year-old mother-in-law, Patricia Dawson, whose apartment building was completely destroyed. As of Saturday, she was still listed as missing.

Dawson said she can sympathize with the difficulty officials have faced in confirming the identities of the victims, but said it has left her with little choice but to keep looking until there is news.

"I don't want to jump on that bandwagon of people who have been screaming and yelling about how this process has worked. They don't understand how the process works. Neither do I," Dawson said.

"But I am almost to that place where I really want to know if she's in the morgue so I can quit wondering what happened."

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has ordered the state's national guard to remove the wasteland of debris left by the tornado, a mission he described as an "enormous task" but crucial for the city's recovery.

Meanwhile, Police Chief Lane Roberts said the city had made 17 arrests for looting. (AFP)