The death toll from one of the worst tornadoes ever to hit the United States has risen to 139, a Joplin, Missouri city official said Saturday. Among the newly confirmed killed 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." Six days after the massive tornado cut a miles-long path of destruction through this town of 50,000, crews continued searching for more than 100 people listed as missing.
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. It tore apart everything it touched along a path four miles (six kilometers) long. 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 afield. "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 organise 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."
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