Tornadoes ripped through parts of the Midwest today, killing at least one person in Minneapolis and an unknown number of others in a Missouri town where a hospital was hit

.In Missouri, authorities said a tornado hit a Joplin hospital and caused the roofs of two city fire stations to collapse. Jasper County Emergency Management Director Keith Stammer said a tornado hit the St. John’s Regional Medical Center and that there are multiple reports of injuries.

Damage was widespread across the south side of Joplin. John Campbell, operations director for the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency, confirmed fatalities have been reported, but he did not yet have an exact number or specifics.

Phone communications in and out of the city of about 50,000 people about 160 miles south of Kansas City were largely cut off.

The tornado that hit Minneapolis damaged at least 100 homes, toppled hundreds of trees and injured at least 29 people.

Minneapolis city spokeswoman Sara Dietrich said the death was confirmed by the Hennepin County medical examiner. She had no other immediate details. Only two of the injured were hurt critically.

The Minnesota storm’s path tracked from the western suburbs, where it raked a condo complex and two businesses in St. Louis Park, before rattling north Minneapolis and hitting the northern suburb of Fridley, where it overturned two railroad cars and lifted roofs off several homes and damaged three businesses.


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