Emergency officials are getting a better handle of the scope of the destruction left behind after an EF-4 tornado plowed through Newton County Saturday. The storm spawned a weaker twister when it reached Barry County.

Monday officials raised the death toll to 16. A firefighter who was performing his duties as a storm spotter died Monday because of injuries he sustained Saturday night.

He is among 14 people who died in Newton County. The victims included a Joplin family of five who died when their car was thrown more than 100 yards from a rural road into a nearby field as the family was traveling to a wedding. Another family of four died when a tree hit their mobile home.

Authorities say another fatality was reported north of Purdy in Barry County, and a 17-year-old girl died near Carthage in Jasper County after winds knocked a tree onto a trailer.

The victims were identified as: Ruby Bilke, Joplin; Teri Cook, Racine; Paul Gallemore, Racine; Linda Hasty, Seneca; Daniel, Barbara, Jeff and Terrance "Joe" Monroe, Newton County; Rockie Peterson, Neosho; Christine Petree, Morrisville; Richard, Kathy and Clayton Rountree; Joplin;and Kelly Kisper, Purdy.

Jasper County officials are still waiting to notify the family
of the 15th victim.

POWER UPDATE
The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives reports New-Mac is the hardest hit member, with about 350 poles down. About 11,200 customers are reportedly without power around the state. About 100
additional linemen and contractors are reportedly on-scene to assist New-Mac. It may be Wednesday before all power is restored in that area.

AmerenUE reports about 3,500 customers without power this morning, primarily in the St. Louis County area. Ameren UE expects to have all customers back on line Monday afternoon. AmerenUE has added 300 outside contractor personnel as well as 300 linemen from their own company. Empire Electric indicates that they have 786 meters out of service in Newton County. Aquila is not reporting any outages at this time. New-Mac Electric Coop reports about 7,000 meters without power as of 7 p.m. Sunday night. Additional resources from outside Co—ops are assisting New-Mac in getting poles reset and wires restrung.

AVAILABLE HELP
The shelters at Calvary Baptist Church in Neosho and the shelter in Diamond are now on stand-by. There was no one overnight in either shelter.

The Missouri Department of Mental Health has set up phone lines to help counsel tornado survivors. Newton/Jasper County persons needing services should call 1-800-247-0661 and Barry County residents should call 1-800-801-4405.

Americorps has mobilized two teams. They may be reached 417-451-8248 or 8249.