• Trees toppled, homes destroyed by powerful storms in Missouri and Arkansas

    David Carson / Post-Dispatch via AP

    Susan Strebeck looks at a tree that landed on the roof of her home in Hazelwood, Mo., after a storm blew through the area on April 10.

    By John Newland and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News

    A forceful storm system whipped tornadoes and severe thunderstorms across Missouri and Arkansas late Wednesday, wrecking homes, downing power lines and injuring multiple people in both states.

    Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency as the severe storm system that he said included tornadoes walloped suburbs west and southwest of St. Louis. Read full story

    Danny Johnston / AP

    Larry Gammill, left, who attends Botkinburg Foursquare Church, and his friend Tim Parks walk in front of what is left of the church in Botkinburg, Ark., on April 11, 2013, after a severe storm struck the building the night before.

    David Carson / Post-Dispatch via AP

    A damaged home in Hazelwood, Mo., on April 10.

    David Carson / Post-Dispatch via AP

    A car lays on its side in Hazelwood, Mo., after a storm blew through the area on April 10.

     

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  • Spring snowstorm continues eastward track along I-70

    Orlin Wagner / AP

    A man waits for help after becoming stuck in snow along West 6th Street in Lawrence, Kan., March 24.

    By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Midwesterners saw no signs of spring on Sunday as heavy snow blanketed a large swath of the country that stretched from Missouri to Pennsylvania.

    The storm doused Colorado and northwest Kansas on Saturday, leaving 10 to 15 inches of snow in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. Now the system is moving east and will make its way through the mid-Mississippi Valley, the Ohio Valley and the Appalachians, where it is expected to leave six to 10 inches of snow in its wake.

    Read the full story.

    Charlie Riedel / AP

    A pedestrian is shrouded in heavy snow as he crosses a downtown street on Saturday, March 23, in Kansas City, Mo.

  • Winter whiteout slams central US

    Matt Reid / AP

    Robert Miller, left, and J'Qwan Robinson help push a friend's car out of the snow Feb. 21, in St. Joseph, Mo.

    Dave Kaup / Reuters

    Stalled vehicles are seen during a blizzard as traffic backs up on a major thoroughfare in Overland Park, Kan., on Feb. 21.

    Tom Dorsey / AP

    Tim Meece shovels a walk to help a friend Feb. 21 in Salina, Kan.

    By Erin McClam and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News

    Lumbering coast to coast, a winter storm hammered the Great Plains on Thursday, and more than a dozen more states were forecast to be hit in coming days.

    Accidents were reported across the region, with one death: an Oklahoma teenager who was killed when his pickup truck skidded across a slushy road. Read full story

    Dave Kaup / Reuters

    A man stands next to car stuck in the snow during a blizzard in Kansas City, Kan., on Feb. 21.

    David Carson / AP

    A car is stuck in a ditch after spinning out on Interstate 70 East near Lake St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 21.

    Robert Cohen / AP

    An American Airlines flight arrives as sleet falls at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, on Feb. 21.

    Tom Dorsey / AP

    Gina Pucket shovels snow from her driveway in Salina, Kan., on the morning of Feb. 21.

    Much of the Midwest is covered in a blanket of white as a massive winter storm has covered parts of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas with over a foot of snow. NBC's John Yang reports.

    Slideshow: Winter's Frozen Splendor

    PhotoBlog: Golf championship play stopped due to Arizona winter storm 

    This story was originally published on Thu Feb 21, 2013 3:29 PM EST

  • President Barack Obama attends Joplin High School commencement ceremony

    Photos by Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

    Members of the Class of 2012 at the Joplin High School commencement ceremony, May 21, 2012, at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo.

    President Barack Obama, center, with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, left, and Superintendent C.J. Huff, right, applaud the Class of 2012 Monday night.

    Related PhotoBlog posts

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  • Revisiting Joplin, one year after the storm

    Photos by Charlie Riedel / AP

    Shots taken on May 23, 2011, left, and May 7, 2012, show progress made in Joplin, Mo., in the year after an EF-5 tornado destroyed a large swath of the city.

    By Robert Hood

    A killer tornado tore through Joplin, Mo., on May 22, 2011, destroying 7,500 buildings and killing 161 people. AP’s Charlie Riedel documented the destruction over the next few days. He returned two months later to see how the cleanup was going, and again on May 7, 2012. These pictures show the changes the town is going through.

    They’ve made considerable progress in Joplin, aided by donations and volunteers. However, there are still many empty lots, and the town is only now breaking ground on a new high school to replace the one destroyed by the storm.

    These three-photo combos, taken on May 25, 2011, top, July 20, 2011, center, and May 7, 2012, bottom, show scenes of destruction, cleanup and rebuilding in the year since an EF-5 tornado destroyed a large swath of the city and killed 161 people.

    Related stories

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  • Remembering and rebuilding in Joplin, Missouri, a year after the tornado struck

    Joe Raedle / Getty Images

    Camryn Dean,7, plays on a pile of dirt behind her mother's rebuilt home in the heart of what was once nothing but debris and destroyed homes after a tornado hit the neighborhood almost one year ago, in Joplin, Missouri.

    Joe Raedle / Getty Images

    The Joplin High School sign is seen in front of the rubble of the school after the letters H and E were placed on it reading "Hope." The town is still rebuilding one year after the catastrophic tornado hit the town of Joplin, Missouri. Tuesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the EF-5 tornado that devastated the town.

    Monday night, President Barack Obama is set to speak at Joplin High School’s commencement ceremony, nearly one year after a tornado stuck the town, wiping out 7,500 buildings, including the High School, and killing 161. On May 22, 2011, two high school students were killed as the tornado hit, a senior returning from graduation -- pulled through the sunroof of his car -- and a freshman also in a vehicle. Since that tragic day, students have been attending classes in makeshift structures spread across town.  On Tuesday, they will symbolically break ground on three new schools which they hope to be complete by 2014.

    Joe Raedle / Getty Images

    (Left to right) Morgan Osburn, David Hoosier and Kim Hoosier spend a quiet moment together in front of a memorial built for their friend Lance Hare who was killed when the town was hit by a tornado in Joplin, Missouri.

    Joe Raedle / Getty Images

    Pastor Kathy Redpath gives communion during a service in a temporary tent set up by the Peace Lutheran Church next to their church that that was destroyed when a tornado hit almost one year ago in Joplin, Missouri.

    Joe Raedle / Getty Images

    The foundations of homes are all that remain after the debris has been cleared following the catastrophic tornado that hit almost one year ago in Joplin, Missouri.

    Joe Raedle / Getty Images

    Zac Bronson and his son, Nolan Bronson, plant trees in the front lawn of their new home which he built after his former home was destroyed when a tornado struck last year in Joplin, Missouri.

    Joe Raedle / Getty Images

    Camryn Dean, 7, plays in the newly built tornado shelter behind her mother's rebuilt home in the heart of what was once nothing but debris and destroyed homes after a tornado hit the neighborhood almost one year ago in Joplin, Missouri.

    The rebuilding effort has been aided by thousands of volunteers and donations and support from far and near. Of the 553 businesses destroyed, 446 have reopened. The shell of what used to be the hospital still stands, though it has already been replaced by a new facility. Work has been ongoing to rebuild homes lost to the storm, but the area is speckled with empty lots and many still have no place to live.

  • Homecoming queen with Down syndrome inspires her classmates in Missouri

    Erik M. Lunsford / St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP

    Senior Sara Marshall hugs Barbara Behlmann during lunch on Thursday, May 10, 2012, at Hazelwood West High School in Hazelwood, Mo. Behlmann is a homecoming queen, a cheerleader and clearly one of the most popular students at Hazelwood West High School in suburban St. Louis. She also has Down syndrome. But she was raised in a home where her parents never put limits on her, and she has taken that message to heart as she prepares to graduate Saturday.

    Erik M. Lunsford / St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP

    Senior Barbara Behlmann walks to class following lunch on Thursday.

    The St. Louis Post-Dispatch tells the story of student Barbara Behlmann, a popular graduating senior at Hazelwood West High who has Down Syndrome:

    Early on, the Behlmanns decided they would teach their daughter to do more than just survive.

    "We never put limits on Barbara. We never said 'You can't do this,' or 'You're not able to do this,'" Karen Behlmann said. "It was whatever she wanted to do, then we were going to do it — whatever it took."

    Speech and language therapies, at day care, school and home were constant throughout the rest of her childhood, they say. Chatter with a sister, another girl the Behlmanns adopted, helped too.

    Along the way, Barbara's personality became clear — a happy, outgoing girl with no fear.

    That's how her fellow cheerleaders at Hazelwood West describe her.

    Read more...

    Erik M. Lunsford / AP

    Teacher Bridget Hanna admires Barbara Behlmann's thank you card to her job training employer at Hazelwood West High School.

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  • Sifting through the debris of the tornado aftermath

    Whitney Curtis / Getty Images

    Steve McDonald stands in the debris of his mother-in-law, Mary Osman's home. Osman was killed after a tornado touched down on Feb. 29 in Harrisburg, Ill.

    Twisters roared through the nation's heartland in the early morning darkness Wednesday tearing through small towns in Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, and Missouri. 

    In Harrisburg, Ill., a town of 9,000, residents sorted through piles of debris and remembered their dead while the winds still howled around them.

    Not long after the storm, Darrell Osman raced to his mother's home, arriving just in time to speak to her before she was taken to a hospital with a head injury, a severe cut to her neck and a broken arm and leg.

    "She was conscious. I wouldn't say she was coherent. There were more mumbles than anything," he said. "She knew we were there."

    Mary Osman died a short time later.

    -- The Associated Press

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    Laurie Skrivan / St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Zuma Press

    One of the owner's of Dream Baskets, a gourmet food eatery located off Route 45, look out the exposed north side of the restaurant, which was destroyed by a tornado on Feb. 29 in Harrisburg, Ill.

    Sarah Conard / Reuters

    Carissa Westfall helps salvage products from Nature's Sunshine Health Foods store in Branson, Missouri, on Feb. 29.

  • Storm's path of destruction crosses several Midwest states

    Mark Schiefelbein / AP

    Rob Turpen of Hollister, Mo., holds his son Izaiha, 2, while his son Patrick, 3, climbs over debris at a friend's storm-damaged house just east of Branson, Mo., Wednesday. A powerful storm system lashed the Midwest early Wednesday, roughing up the country music resort city of Branson and laying waste to a small town in Kansas.

    Mark Schiefelbein / AP

    Windows are blown out of a Hilton hotel in downtown Branson, Mo., Wednesday.

    Stephen Lance Dennee / AP

    Julie Shaw picks up jewelry of Dorothy Hill in Harrisburg, Ill., after an early morning tornado struck the small town in southern Illinois on Wednesday. Hill was injured and take to the hospital. At least six people died in Harrisburg in the pre-dawn tornado.

    Timothy D. Easley / AP

    Workers with National Distributors Leasing examine damage to semi trailers following a tornado that went through the area Wednesday in Hodgenville, Ky. Waves of strong storms ripped roofs off homes, apartment buildings and a bank and destroyed several buildings in north-central Kentucky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

    Patti Longmire / AP

    Mary Curtsinger looks over the devastation at her friend's home after severe weather passed Hodgenville, Ky. on Wednesday. Waves of strong storms ripped roofs off homes, apartment buildings and a bank and destroyed several buildings in north-central Kentucky.

    The full story on msnbc.com reports that at least nine people were killed as tornadoes crossed the Midwest:

    John Moore, owner of the damaged Cakes-n-Creams '50s Diner in Branson, Mo., said the apparent twister appeared to "jump side to side" as it moved down the entertainment district, right through the convention center, across a lake and into a housing division.

    "The theater next to me kind of exploded. It went everywhere. The hotels on the two sides of me lost their roofs. Power lines are down. Windows are blown out," Moore said. "There's major, major destruction. There has to be millions dollars of damage all down the strip.

  • Matthew Cavanah / Colmbia Tribune via AP

    Ruth Payton, 82, of Macon, in red, watches Watson, a 5-year-old American bald eagle, take flight in Long Branch State Park in Macon, Mo. Payton, who is terminally ill with hemolytic anemia — a disease that prematurely destroys red blood cells — said she had always wanted to see a bald eagle. Her hospice worker, Randi Petre, contacted the University of Missouri's Raptor Rehabilitation Project, which arranged for Payton to come see Watson be released back into the wild. The eagle was brought to MU's Raptor Rehabilitation Project last month after being found in Randolph County with severe lead poisoning, likely the result of ingesting contaminated fish or deer.

    A dream takes flight

    .

  • St. Louis welcomes the Cardinals home after their World Series win

    Jeff Roberson / AP

    St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols waves to fans during a victory parade on Oct. 30, 2011 in St. Louis.

    AP reports

    ST. LOUIS - A red sea of fans jammed downtown St. Louis to honor the World Series champion Cardinals and send a clear message to Albert Pujols: Please stay

    Pujols drew a long standing ovation at the stadium. When asked if he'd like to be back for another celebration next season, he smiled sheepishly and said, "Hey, why not?"

    Jerry Naunheim / AP

    Fans cheer outside Busch Stadium during a victory parade in celebration of the Cardinals' 11th World Series victory.

    Jeff Roberson / AP

    Cardinals manager Tony La Russa gives a thumbs-up as he participates in a victory parade for the baseball World Series champions.

    Related slideshow: 2011 World Series

  • Carthage, Mo. church volunteers restore photos lost in Joplin tornado

    AP reports:

    Judy Lowe, a real estate agent, lost everything in the twister; all that remained of her house were bathroom tiles. So finding a photo of her son, Scott, on the Facebook page "was like claiming a victory from the tornado," she says.

    "Every day you realize everything you had is gone," Lowe explains. "You think, 'I don't have this or that.' Then to get one part of your life back — it's overwhelming. You just cry."

    The battered, orange-tinted picture shows Scott, then 2 (he's now 8) mugging for the camera in the bathroom, pretending to be shaving with foam on his chin.

    "It's a day and a memory and a piece of time," she says of the photo. "That's all I have now. I don't have a baby blanket. I don't have his first little outfit he came home in. I don't want you to think I'm a pack rat, but it's honestly something that takes me back to happier times. ... Since the tornado, they've been few and far between."

    Charlie Riedel / AP

    Damaged photos are seen at the First Baptist Church in Carthage, Mo. where volunteers are cleaning and sorting photos and other personal documents found among rubble after a powerful EF-5 tornado destroyed a large swath of nearby Joplin, Mo. on May 22. The church has taken on the task of preserving thousands of lost photos and reuniting them with their owners.

    Charlie Riedel / AP

    Margaret Hagenbaumer, left, and Martha Cardwell, volunteers at the First Baptist Church in Carthage, Mo., clean and sort photos and other personal documents found among rubble after a powerful EF-5 tornado. destroyed a large swath of nearby Joplin, Mo. on May 22, 2011. The church has taken on the task of preserving thousands of lost photos and reuniting them with their owners.

    Charlie Riedel / AP

    A volunteer cleans a damaged photo at the First Baptist Church in Carthage, Mo.

    Charlie Riedel / AP

    Pastor Thad Beeler holds a damaged framed photo at the First Baptist Church in Carthage, Mo.

    Charlie Riedel / AP

    Judy Lowe displays photos of her sons that were recovered after she lost everything in an EF-5 tornado that ripped through Joplin, Mo.

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