1000527 A Terrible Twister –Michael

A Terrible Twister
After a devastating tornado, the people of Joplin, Missouri, pick up the pieces
By Suzanne Zimbler

On Sunday evening, a powerful tornado tore through the town of Joplin, Missouri, creating a devastating path of destruction. Twenty minutes before the tornado touched down, warning sirens sounded, and residents scrambled to find cover or leave town. But for many, 20 minutes was not enough time.


MARIO TAMA—GETTY IMAGES

People struggle to salvage items from homes ripped apart by Sunday's tornado.

The tornado touched down at around 6:00 p.m. It destroyed thousands of homes and business, injured 750 people and killed at least 122 people. Three days later, as residents start to pick up the pieces, the search for missing victims continues. "We are still in search-and-rescue mode," said Mark Rohr, Joplin's city manager.
A Mighty Tornado
Sunday's tornado was the country's eighth deadliest since record-keeping began in 1840. The National Weather Service said the twister was an EF5, the highest rating possible on a scale of tornado power and intensity.
Bill Davis, the lead forecaster on a National Weather Service team, said that only an unusually powerful tornado could destroy so many sturdy buildings, including a hospital, a bank and a Pepsi bottling plant. "Numerous well-built residential homes were basically leveled," he said.
The Road to Recovery
With four school buildings destroyed, class has been cancelled for all Joplin students for the rest of the school year. But officials have vowed to be ready for the new school year to begin on August 17, as scheduled.

JULIE DENESHA—GETTY IMAGES

Rescuers are traveling from house to house, searching for survivors.


The district is working to determine which buildings can be used. Some Joplin students may be sent to attend school in other districts. "We definitely have a deadline, and we're looking to make that happen," Superintendent C.J. Huff told The Joplin Globe.
As Joplin residents turned their attention to recovery efforts, violent weather struck the Midwest again on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tornados tore through parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas, killing at least 14 people.
With so many communities devastated by the recent twisters, many wonder how they can lend a hand. The American Red Cross has set up a donation page that allows you to give directly to tornado relief. For more information, visit www.redcross.org.

1000527 A Terrible Twister –Michael
Tornadoes are terrible disasters if they come they will destroy a lot of things. In America there are lots of tornadoes hitting people they often destroy everything. What is a tornado? A tornado is a dagerous, violent rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. People often call them as twister, tornado or cyclone. The tornado often has a destructive power which sucks everything up in the sky until the tornado vanish. When the tornado disappear all the things that the tornado sucks up will fall down to the ground. People are afraid of the tornado because the tornado might destroy their houses and farms they can also cause death. Even more when a tornado sweeps over a place you will need to spend a lot of time rebuilding the things back to normal. The tornado which striked Joplin, Missouri had destoyed four schools. It let the class cancelled for the rest of the years. So children have to study in other school or study by themselves. So tornadoes are very terrible.