One week ago tonight, Armageddon came to the city of Joplin, Missouri.

An EF-5 tornado, packing 200 mph winds, tore through the town killing an estimated 139 people and injuring more than 900.

It struck the town of 50,000 at dinner time last Sunday.

Attempting to get the count right has proved to be a daunting, complex, and nearly impossible task for both authorities and loved ones.

According to Missouri officials yesterday, the number of fatalities includes nine people who have been reported dead by their families, but whose status remains unconfirmed by officials.

State officials stated that there are 142 sets of human remains at the morgue handling those killed by the storm and some could be from the same victim.

If the number of people killed in Joplin remains at 139, it would make this year’s tornado death toll number 520, singling out 2011 as the deadliest year for tornadoes since 1950. Before now, the highest recorded death toll by the National Weather Service in a single year was 519 in 1953. There were supposedly worse years for tornado fatalities before 1950, but those totals came from estimates and not from a precise count.

The Joplin Tornado is proving to be the deadlist twister to hit our country since 1947.

Survivors told stories of riding out the 200 mph winds in walk-in coolers in restaurants and convenience stores, hiding in bathtubs and closets, and, when there was no shelter available, running for their lives as the tornado bore down.

Leslie Swatosh, 22, told of hunkering down on the floor of a liquor store with other helpless Americans, holding on to each other and praying:

We were getting hit by rocks and I don’t even know what hit me.

The tornado demolished the store , but it spared Lesile and those huddled around her, clinging to each other for dear life:

Everyone in that store was blessed. There was nothing of that store left.

The tornado traveled along a path nearly six miles long and about 1/2 mile to 3/4 mile wide, wiping out whole neighborhoods, splintering trees and flipping over cars and trucks. Leaving the destruction of 2,000 homes and many other businesses, schools and other buildings behind it.

180 patients had no place to run as the fierce winds blew out windows and pulled off the roof at St. John’s Hospital.  AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alan Reppert reported that X-ray films from the hospital were found 70 miles away.

According to Jasper County Emergency Management Director Keith Stammers, Joplin’s residents were given about 20 minutes’ notice when 25 warning sirens sounded in the evening.

Per Joplin City Councilwoman Melodee Colbert-Kean, Vice Mayor, the town was in a state of “chaos”:

It is just utter devastation anywhere you look to the south and the east — businesses, apartment complexes, houses, cars, trees, schools, you name it, it is leveled, leveled.

By Tuesday night, the city of Joplin had posted a message on its Facebook page in an attempt to clarify the report of the 1,500 who were still missing:

This does NOT mean they are injured or deceased, just that loved ones are not aware of their whereabouts.

A commenter logged on as Chris Taylor wrote back, desperately seeking specifics:

Is there any way anyone in Joplin could list the people who are still missing? It might help many who still have no idea if a friend or relative is missing.

As Joplin’s citizens sifted through rubble for what was left of their possessions, many neighborhoods remained blocked by wreckage or by emergency officials who searched for survivors.

Jeremy Ball, 38, had to get into his home by crawling through a window. Speaking about the unimaginable horror of last Sunday night, he sadly recounted helping to search nearby homes and finding the bodies of a woman neighbor and her 15-year-old daughter. He said:

That is something you never want to have to do.

After spending the week since the tornado overseas in Ireland, England, France, and Poland, demonstrating his Smart Power! Foreign Policy skills (and gaining America absolutely nothing), President Barack Hussein Obama returned to the country that he is supposed to be leading last night.

The president will be making a quick trip (the Main Stream Media’s words, not mine) to Joplin today to meet with survivors and deliver a short speech at a memorial service.

The Joplin Community Memorial Service will be held on the campus of Missouri Southern State University. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon will also speak at the service. The governor released a statement about the event, saying:

On Sunday, all Missourians will pause to morn for those killed by this devastating storm, and to stand together as we begin the process of rebuilding and recovery.

Obama is scheduled to tour the storm damage, thank first responders, and participate in meetings between local and state officials and FEMA administrator Craig Fugate, before returning to Washington.

One week later.

[May God bless and comfort the citizens of Joplin, Missouri as they rebuild their town and their lives.]