Rescuers on Monday sought survivors under the rubble of Joplin, Missouri small town (center), transformed into "war zone" by passing the eve of a devastating tornado that killed at least 116 dead. "Three quarters of the city of 50,000 people was destroyed by what increase (Editor's note: The number of deaths)," said Christy Bertelson, spokesman for the governor of Missouri Jay Nixon, told AFP.
In total, about 46 tornadoes struck the weekend seven states of central and northern United States, according to the National Weather Service.
But Joplin, a town a few miles from Kansas and Oklahoma, was by far the most affected.
According to the American Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), the largest number of deaths from a tornado was reported in 1953 in Flint, Michigan, also with 116 deaths.
Rescue teams worked on Monday to try to "find survivors," and assist the population, told NBC the fire chief of the city, Mitch Randles, who said that he also lost his home.
Some 1,150 people were hospitalized on Monday in the region, according to local newspaper Joplin Globe.
U.S. media reported that he heard cries for help from people trapped debris.
President Barack Obama delivered a message of condolence to the families of the victims from the plane carrying him to his European tour, and said the federal government is prepared to help those affected by the disaster.
Joplin The first images showed flames and smoke coming from unidentifiable houses and a medical helicopter destroyed in the rubble of a clinic that had to be evacuated.
U.S. officials said nearly a third of the city was affected by the tornado, a monster with gusts reached 320 km / h, which left a trail of destruction 6.4 km long and a mile wide.
"It is so devastating that at this time we fail to understand" what happened, told AFP Rob Chapel, a coroner Jasper County, home to Joplin.
"It looks like a war zone," said Scott Meeker, a reporter for The Joplin Globe, adding that the local hospital Memorial Hall was "quickly overwhelmed" by the number of wounded reached "hundreds", and the lack of medicines or equipment.
"A school has become a center" for the wounded, he said.
To erase the damage and rescue victims, the governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon, declared a state of emergency and requested intervention of the National Guard.
"The situation is dangerous. We see images of the electric poles uprooted, houses destroyed by the trees (...) This is a warning to the people, the danger has not passed, the situation remains precarious," said Governor CNN.
On Saturday, a deadly tornado also lashed the city of Reading, in eastern Kansas (center), leaving one dead. Another tornado killed one person Sunday in Minneapolis (north), in Minnesota, and wounded at least 30 more.
During April, the tornadoes that hit the southeastern United States left 354 dead and extensive damage, which, according to the accumulated balance, made it the deadliest month in nearly a century as a result.
According to experts, the repetitions of these deadly tornadoes are not related to climate change.
"We see no relationship between changes in national or global temperatures and the number of tornadoes," he told AFP Harold Brooks, a meteorologist with NOAA.
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