2011 deadliest year for tornadoes since 1950

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — The numbers look increasingly bleak for families hoping for the best after a monster tornado that devastated the town of Joplin, as the city has raised the death toll to at least 139 and state officials say 100 people are still missing.

Thousands more people far beyond Joplin had been waiting for good news about a teen believed to have been ejected or sucked from his vehicle on the way home from graduation. Several social-networking efforts specifically focused on finding information about Will Norton. But his family says he, too, is among the dead — found in a pond near where his truck was located.

"At least we know that he wasn't out there suffering," his aunt Tracey Presslor said, holding a framed portrait of her 18-year-old nephew at a news conference. "Knowing that he was gone right away was really a blessing for us."

The tornado — an EF-5 packing 200 mph winds — was the deadliest since 1950. More than 900 people were injured. Tallying and identifying the dead and the missing has proven a complex, delicate and sometimes confusing exercise for both authorities and loved ones.

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr said Saturday during a news conference that the death toll rose by three to at least 139.

Death toll from Joplin tornado now 139

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That makes this the deadliest year for tornadoes since 1950, based on an assessment of figures from the National Weather Service. The tornado death toll for 2011 is now 523. Until now, the highest recorded death toll in a single year was 519 in 1953. There were deadlier storms before 1950, but those counts were based on estimates and not on precise figures.

The state has been working to pare down the list of people missing and unaccounted for in the wake of the deadliest single U.S. twister in more than six decades.

Missouri officials said Saturday that the number of people unaccounted for stands at 100. The Missouri Department of Public Safety said that within that number, nine people have been reported dead by their families, but state officials are working to confirm those. A temporary morgue for tornado victims has as many as 142 human remains, deputy director Andrea Spillars said earlier Saturday, but that includes partial remains.

"Some of those remains may be the same person," she said.

Newton County coroner Mark Bridges said most, if not all, of the people brought to the temporary morgue could be identified this weekend. He described officials there as "making real good progress."

After a mistake immediately after the storm — four people thought they had identified one person's body, only to be wrong — authorities are relying instead on dental records, photos and unique tattoos or piercings, Bridges said. They've also used DNA tests in a handful of cases, he said.

"We learned the hard way at the start," he said. "It's bad for the families."

Asked about calls to open the morgue to all families of the missing, Bridges said doing so would be impractical. He described the site as a number of dark, refrigerated trailers holding body bags.

"There's no place to let them into," he said.

There have been 1,333 preliminary tornado reports in the U.S. through May 27, officials said, while the average number of confirmed tornadoes in a single year during the past decade has been 1,274.

Presslor said Saturday that the family received confirmation of his death late Friday night. She said her nephew's body was not found sooner because there was so much debris in the pond.

Family members had previously told The Associated Press that Norton and his father were still on the road when the storm hit. Mark Norton urged his son to pull over, but the teen's Hummer H3 flipped several times, throwing the young man from the vehicle, likely through the sunroof.

Mark Norton remains in the hospital and is "having a really tough time" after being told his son's body was found, Presslor said.

About a dozen of Norton's classmates stood in the back of the room as she spoke. His funeral arrangements are pending.

Presslor thanked the thousands of people who posted good wishes for Norton on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, and thanked all those who helped look for him. She urged those volunteers to keep looking for other people still missing.

"Please don't give up," she said.