Death toll rises to 126; several missing found

Associated Press

JOPLIN, Mo.

The death toll from the massive tornado that devastated the southwest Missouri town of Joplin stood at 126 late Thursday night.

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr announced the updated figure to reporters Thursday after meeting with residents and government officials about plans to offer assistance to victimized residents.

More than 900 people suffered injuries in Sunday’s tornado, now considered the nation’s single-deadliest in six decades.

As emergency workers in Joplin searched Thursday for more than 230 people listed as missing, one was sitting on a wooden chair outside the wreckage of her home, cuddling her cat.

Sally Adams, 75, said neighbors rescued her and took her to a friend’s home Sunday after the storm destroyed her house. When The Associated Press told her she was on the missing list, Adams laughed and said, “Get me off of there!”

Missouri officials had said they believed many of the missing were alive and safe but simply hadn’t been in touch with friends and family, in part because cellphone service has been spotty. The AP found that was the case with at least a dozen of the 232 still unaccounted for Thursday. They included two survivors staying at a hotel, six that a relative said were staying with friends and one that a former employee said had been moved from his nursing home.

Stephen Whitehead, of the Red Cross’ Safe and Well registry, which keeps track of the accounted-for, said that since the missing list came out earlier Thursday, he has learned that at least nine are people who are dead. Whitehead said he did not know whether those nine were among the known fatalities.

Adams said she lost her cellphone in the storm and had no way of contacting her family to let them know she was OK. She was placed on the missing list after relatives called a hot line and posted Facebook messages saying she was missing.

Her son, Bill Adams, said he told authorities his mother was alive after he learned she was safe, yet she remained on their unaccounted-for list Thursday afternoon.

Mike O’Connell, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, said he wouldn’t call Adams’ listing a mistake and finding her is “a good thing.” He urged other survivors to check the list and call if they see their names.

The AP found Mike and Betty Salzer at a hotel being used by visiting journalists.

“Well, for heaven’s sakes,” Betty Salzer, 74, said when the AP showed her the list.

The couple have been staying at the hotel since their home was destroyed Sunday. Betty Salzer said their names might have come from a Facebook message her daughter posted before they reached her Monday morning.

Not all of the stories of the missing will end so well.