JOPLIN, MO (RNN) - The tornado that ripped through Joplin, MO, was an EF-5 - the highest rating available for tornadoes. With 123 confirmed deaths, the storm is the single-deadliest tornado to strike the U.S. in six decades.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) survey teams said the destruction they observed along the three-quarter-mile-wide and 6-mile-long path led them to upgrade the tornado's ranking.
The storm produced winds in excess of 200 MPH.
"We ran across numerous, I underscore numerous, well-built residential homes that were leveled, destroyed on the spot," said Bill Davis, lead forecaster for the survey team. "A bank we came across was totally destroyed except for the vault. The Walmart, the Lowe's, some other major constructed businesses were heavily damaged to totally destroyed."
About 1,500 people are still missing after the tornado. CNN reported that 750 people were treated at local hospitals.
Bob Fenton, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistant administrator for response said the agency is working on temporary-housing solutions to help those displaced by the storm.
"Trailers are one of many solutions we have. We can also provide rental assistance to individuals or do temporary repairs to housing,"Fenton said. "So we'll look at all the tools we have and what is needed by the individuals there and work with them to provide a temporary housing solution."
True to form, in a year marked by catastrophic weather, more storms pounded the Midwest Tuesday evening, largely bypassing Joplin but socking three other states. More than a dozen people were killed in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.
At least one multi-vortex tornado touched down near the Oklahoma City metropolitan are during rush hour Tuesday.
Rescuers searching for Joplin survivors had to work under threat of more severe weather. Search and rescue operations were suspended at least once Tuesday morning when weather hampered efforts.
"We have to test our emergency sirens because the NWS has said there is a chance for more inclement severe weather," Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr said. "Joplin is a great city, who has suffered from a terrible devastation, but we will recover and recover strongly, we will accomplish that end, and he have a lot of volunteers to help complete that."
At least nine people were found alive in the rubble Tuesday. There have been no reports of survivors being pulled out alive on Wednesday.
"We are still finding individuals, and several deceased folks, as well," FEMA Deputy Director Rich Serena said in a news briefing on Tuesday. "It's incredible we're still finding people, but it is our biggest goal to find as many people as possible in the rubble."
According to Eqecat Inc., the tornado may have caused as much as $3 billion in damage.
The single deadliest tornado since 1950 left parts of Joplin, MO, ripped apart and unrecognizable. Five people died when the city's main hospital, St. John's Regional Medical Center, took a direct hit.
NWS assessment teams would try to determine why so many people died in the storm, despite weather sires activating a full 24 minutes before the tornado touched down.
"It really takes the assessment team to go out and ask the hard questions like, 'Did people understand our warning? Did people heed our warning and, if not, why not?,'" said Dr. Jack Hayes, director of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
President Barack Obama will visit Missouri on Sunday to give "whatever assurance and comfort" he can.
"Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives in the tornadoes and severe weather that struck Joplin, Missouri, as well as communities across the Midwest," Obama said in a statement Monday.
The tornado struck the city of about 50,000 about 5:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, breaking natural gas lines, crushing schools, houses and stores, tossing cars and clearing out parking lots.
Freelance photographer Eddie Atwood, 46, told CNN on Sunday that the damage was so severe that he was disoriented.
"I was walking down Main Street. Everything was so razed over it was disorienting because some of the streets you couldn't even tell where you were at. After living in Joplin all my life, it was like living in the 'Twilight Zone.'"
The storms that crushed Joplin and razed the Midwest Tuesday are the latest in a string of extreme weather that is breaking records this spring.
April was a record-breaking month, with 875 tornadoes reported. The month smashed the record of 267 reported tornadoes in 1974.
"I think it's important to understand actual counts of tornadoes have risen over the years with the advent of Doppler radar and with the advent of mobile electronics and the internet, which allow for the ease of reporting," said Dr. Russell Schneider with NOAA's Storm Prediction Center. "The 274 would probably be substantially higher if this happened today."
Before the Midwest tornadoes this week, 365 people had already died this year as a direct result of twister activity. That number will exceed 500 as more deaths are confirmed.
NOAA says they can't poinpoint a single cause of the extraordinarily busy year.
"In the end, research is going to be needed about what sets this season apart from other years," Schneider said.
Copyright 2011 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved. CNN contributed to this report.
Search and rescue crews searching through debris looking for any signs of people. (Source: CNN)
Joplin's St. Mary's Catholic Church was destroyed. (Source: CNN)
Cars were flung like toys in Joplin, MO. (Source: KOLR/CNN)
A wheelchair sits abandoned outside St. John's Regional Medical Center, which was severely damaged. (Source: KOLR/CNN)
Scenes from Joplin resemble a war zone more than a city after being carved in half by the single deadliest tornado in history. (Source: Stormchasingvideo.com/CNN)
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