More than 500 have been injured after a twister viciously cut through this city of 50,000 about 160 miles south of Kansas City, according to officials.

Among the searchers were residents who picked through rubble as another brief but severe storm hampered search efforts and rescuers warned the death toll could climb.

The killer tornado sliced a 6-mile swath through southwestern Missouri, hitting Joplin, destroying a hospital, flattening a high school, slamming cars into buildings and splintering the bark off trees.

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Carthage Fire Chief Chris Thompson, in Joplin to help, described the scene as "catastrophic."

Crews found bodies in vehicles the storm had flipped over, torn apart and left crushed like empty cans. Triage centers and temporary shelters quickly filled to capacity. At Memorial Hall, a downtown entertainment venue, emergency workers treated critically injured patients.

At another makeshift unit at a Lowe's home improvement store, wooden planks served as beds. Outside, ambulances and fire trucks waited for calls. In the early hours of the morning, emergency vehicles were scrambling nearly every two minutes.

U.S. Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., said he visited a shelter staffed by the Red Cross.

"It's just heart-wrenching to hear people call in looking for loved ones," Long said.

At the athletic center fieldhouse of Missouri Southern State University, a volunteer called out for George Ballew.

"Your wife is OK," the volunteer told Ballew. "We just found her."

The 48-year-old personal finance officer, his left hand wrapped in gauze, bowed his head and began weeping. "Oh thank God," he said, collapsing into the volunteer's arms. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

The two-story apartment complex across the street from St. John's Regional Medical Center where Ballew lived with his wife, Deborah, was leveled. She was at work as a nurse at the hospital when the storm hit.

Afterward, Ballew walked outside. "I glanced back at the apartment and it was completely gone," Ballew said. "As I got to the parking lot, I don't think there was a car that wasn't overturned and smashed."

The damage was breathtaking in scope.

"You see pictures of World War II, the devastation and all that with the bombing. That's really what it looked like," said resident Kerry Sachetta, the principal of a flattened Joplin High School. "I couldn't even make out the side of the building. It was total devastation in my view. I just couldn't believe what I saw."

The new storm that hit Monday as rescuers went door-to-door brought heavy rain, hail and high winds.

"It's definitely not making the process any easier," said National Weather Service meteorologist Doug Cramer.

Gov. Jay Nixon was traveling Monday afternoon to Joplin. He said he remained hopeful that rescuers would find more survivors as heavy equipment and cranes arrive to remove the rubble.

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