A chain of particularly violent storms ripped through the American Midwest on Sunday. Joplin, Missouri, has become iconic of the increasingly-depressing storm season blighting the US.

Late last month, the worst tornadoes in forty years twisted through America’s south, spreading destruction from Texas to New York, killing at least 330 people. Alabama bore the brunt of the carnage, with 194 people dead in the wake of 150 tornadoes over a 24-hour period.

In Joplin, 30 people have been confirmed dead.

“It looks like a war zone,” said Donald Davis, a chemotherapy nurse who was dining 35 miles away in Kansas when the tornado struck in Joplin, where he has lived much of his life. He said he contended with closed roads and downed power lines for nearly two hours to return home, where he found a scene of devastation in the center of the city.

It looked as if the tornado had traveled directly down 20th Street, Joplin’s main east-west thoroughfare, and at least 13 blocks to the east, he said in a telephone interview.

“Just up and down 20th Street, it’s just building after building. Houses destroyed. One of our largest grocery stores, destroyed. And there’s a big apartment complex right next to it, probably had 150 apartments in it, it’s flattened. Several churches gone. And big, nice homes — all just gone,” he said.

[Source : LA Times]