US Capitol Cities: Salem, Oregon

Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County. Salem was founded in 1842, became the capital of the Oregon Territory in 1851, and was incorporated in 1857.

Salem had a population of 154,637 at the 2010 census, making it the third largest city in the state after Portland and Eugene. Salem is less than an hour driving distance away from Portland. Salem is the principal city of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan area that covers Marion and Polk counties and had a combined population of 347,214 at the 2000 census. A 2009 estimate placed the metropolitan population at 396,103, the state's second larges



History
Origin of name
The Native Americans who originally inhabited Salem, the Kalapuyans called the area Chemeketa, which means "meeting or resting place" in the Central Kalapuya language (Santiam). The original Kalapuya pronunciation of the word is Chim-i-ki-ti. When the Methodist Mission moved to the Chemeketa plain, the new establishment was called Chemeketa, but was more widely known as the Mill because of its situation on Mill Creek. When the Oregon Institute was established, the community was known as the Institute.

When the Institute was dissolved, the trustees decided to lay out a townsite on the Institute lands. It is uncertain who chose the name "Salem" for the new town, but it is believed to be one of two people: trustee David Leslie from Salem, Massachusetts, or William H. Willson who in 1850–1851 filed the plats for the main part of the city. There were many names suggested and even after the change to Salem, some people, such as Asahel Bush (editor of the Oregon Statesman), believed the name should be changed back to Chemeketa.

The name Salem is derived from the semitic words and Hebrew shalom for peace. The Vern Miller Civic Center which houses the city offices and library has a public space dedicated as the Peace Plaza in recognition of the names by which the city has been known. Salem is also thought to be the original name of Jerusalem used in Genesis 14:18.


Native Americans
It is estimated that the Willamette Valley area has been inhabited for over 10,000 years. The Kalapuya peoples would gather on the plateau east and south of the current downtown area in the winter and establish camps. They fished and harvested in the streams and fields of the area. One staple of life was the camas root and periodically the Kalapuya would set fires that would clear and fertilize the meadows where it grew. In the early 1850s the Kalapuya, along with the other native peoples west of the Cascade Mountains, were removed by the US government through a combination of treaties and force. Most Kalapuya people were moved to the Grande Ronde Reservation somewhat to the west of Salem, with smaller numbers ending up at Siletz Reservation and other Oregon and Washington reservations.

Europeans
The first people of European descent arrived in the area as early as 1812; they were animal trappers and food gatherers for the fur trading companies in Astoria, Oregon.

The first permanent American settlement in the area was the Jason Lee Methodist mission (1840) located in the area north of Salem known as Wheatland. In 1842, the missionaries established the Oregon Institute (the forerunner of Willamette University) in the area that was to become the site of Salem. In 1844, the mission was dissolved and the town site established.

In 1851, Salem became the territorial capital after it was moved from Oregon City. The capital was moved briefly to Corvallis in 1855, but was moved back to Salem permanently that same year. Salem incorporated as a city in 1857 and with the coming of statehood in 1859 became the state capital.

Capitol buildings
Oregon has had three capitol buildings in Salem. A two-story state house, which had been occupied for only two months, burned to the ground in December 1855. Oregon's second capitol building was completed in 1876 on the site of the original. The revival-style building was based in part on the U.S. Capitol building. The building received its distinctive copper dome in 1893. On April 25, 1935, this building was also destroyed by fire. The third and current Oregon State Capitol was completed on the same site in 1938. It is recognizable by its distinctive pioneer statue atop the capitol dome that is plated with gold-leaf and officially named the Oregon Pioneer.

State fair and cherry festival
Agriculture has always been important to Salem and the city has historically recognized and celebrated that in a number of ways. In 1861, Salem was chosen as the permanent site of the Oregon State Fair by the Oregon State Agricultural Association.

Salem is nicknamed the "Cherry City", because of the past importance of the local cherry growing industry. The first cherry festival in Salem was held in 1903 and was an annual event, with parades and the election of a cherry queen, until sometime after World War I. The event was revived briefly as the Salem Cherryland Festival for several years in the late 1940s.

Geography
Salem is located in the north-central Willamette Valley, in Marion and Polk counties. The 45th Parallel (halfway between the North Pole and the Equator) passes through Salem's city limits.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 46.4 square miles (120 km2), of which, 45.7 square miles (118 km2) of it is land and 0.6 square miles (1.6 km2) of it (1.35%) is water.

Although the Willamette River flows through Salem, the North Santiam River watershed is Salem's primary drinking water source. Other important streams that pass through Salem are Mill Creek, the Mill Race, Pringle Creek, and Shelton Ditch. Smaller streams in eastern part of the city include Clark Creek, Jory Creek, Battle Creek, Croisan Creek, and Claggett Creek, while Glen Creek and Brush Creek flow through West Salem.

Elevation within the city limits ranges about 120 to 800 feet (37 to 240 m). Salem contains the volcanic Salem Hills in the south and is sandwiched by the 1,000 ft (300 m) Eola Hills directly to the West and the 600 ft (180 m) Waldo Hills to the east. Northern and eastern Salem are less hilly. South and West Salem contain some canyons and are the hilliest areas. The coast range and the Cascades including Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, and on the clearest of days, Mount St. Helens can be viewed throughout the city.

Like most of the Willamette Valley area, Salem has a Marine West Coast climate (Koppen Cfb) with some distinct characteristics of the Mediterranean climate. Rain is heaviest in late fall and throughout winter, but precipitation is spread throughout the year, with the exception of a short dry season from late June to early September. Light snowfall does occur in winter, but major snow events are rare. Fog, persistent cloudy skies, and low cloud ceilings are commonplace during the long rainy season.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 136,924 people, 50,676 households, and 32,331 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,994.0 people per square mile (1,156.1/km²). There were 53,817 housing units at an average density of 1,176.8 per square mile (454.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 83.1% White, 1.3% African American, 1.5% Native American, 2.4% Asian, 0.5% Pacific Islander, 7.9% from other races, and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.6% of the population.

Government
Salem is governed using the mayor-council system. The city council consists of eight members who are elected from single member wards. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote.

Economy
State government is Salem's largest employer, but the city also serves as a hub for the area farming communities and is a major agricultural food processing center. It lies along the I-5 corridor and is within an hour's drive of Oregon's largest city, Portland.

In a bid to diversify its economic base, Salem attracted a number of computer-related manufacturing plants in the 1990s. In November 2003, the Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon Group (SUMCO), one of these arrivals, announced it would be closing its two silicon wafer plants at the end of 2004, eliminating 620 jobs, and moving production to other plants.

The top private employer in Salem is the Salem Hospital with over 2,700 employees. Others include the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde's Spirit Mountain Casino west of Salem, the T-Mobile Calling Center, GE Security (Formerly Supra Products Inc.), Wells Fargo Customer Contact Center (Formerly Wachovia Securities), NORPAC Foods, Inc., Roth's Family Markets, Sanyo, and Willamette University.

Salem is the headquarters of the Oregon Department of Corrections and home to four state correctional facilities, including the Oregon State Penitentiary, Oregon's only maximum security prison.

Numerous projects are underway to increase the supply of housing in the downtown core. These projects will provide upscale, low and high rise condominium and office space

People and culture
Neighborhood associations
Central area of Salem 1900Salem has 19 recognized neighborhood associations, which are independent groups that receive administrative support from the city.
Central Area
Croisan-Illahe
East Lancaster
Faye Wright
Grant
Highland
Lansing
Morningside
Northeast
Northeast Salem
Northgate
North Lancaster
South Central
Southeast Mill Creek
South East Salem
South Gateway
South Salem
Sunnyslope
West Salem

Cultural events and series
From May through October the Salem Saturday Market, located north of the Capitol, exhibits an emphasis on local products including crafts, baked goods, produce, meat, and other items. In addition to the Saturday Market, there is a Wednesday Farmers' Market hosted downtown in Courthouse Square during the summer, as well a Holiday Gift Market in December. The 60+ year old, indoor Saturday Public Market is open all year round.

The annual World Beat Festival, held in June, is sponsored by the nonprofit Salem Multicultural Institute. The event lasts for two days and is held at the Riverfront Park. It features international crafts, music, dance, food, and folklore from every continent, and in recent years has held a Dragon Boat race similar to the ones held during the nearby Rose Festival in Portland.

The Salem Art Association sponsors the annual Salem Art Fair and Festival, which takes place at Bush's Pasture Park during the summer. Its displays, interactive exhibits, food, and performances attract thousands of visitors each year.

The Bite of Salem, held in July at the Riverfront Park, is an event similar to others such as the Bite of Oregon in Portland. The event consists of a weekend of local restaurants in Salem offering samples of their menus to patrons in a festival atmosphere, with live entertainment and benefiting local charities. In the summer, Chef's Nite Out is a wine and food benefit held for Marion-Polk Food Share.Oregon Wine & Food Festival takes place at that state's fairgrounds in January.

The largest event in Salem is the Oregon State Fair at the end of August through Labor Day. Located in the Oregon State Fairgrounds in North Salem, the fair offers exhibits, competitions and carnival rides. Other events such as concerts, horse shows and rodeos take place at the Oregon State Fair and Expo Center throughout the year.

The Mid-Valley Video Festival offers local, national and international independent films in theaters throughout the city.

The Salem Film Festival has included feature films that were Oregon premieres.

The Salem Repertory Theatre presents shows at the Reed Opera House. The Pentacle Theatre, which features plays and musicals, is located in West Salem. The Elsinore Theatre is a historic landmark featuring recitals, concerts, films, and plays. It has the largest working pipe organ on the west coast, a remnant of its days as a showcase for silent films, in the early days of cinema. Grand Theater is undergoing renovation and has hosted the Salem Progressive Film Series and other shows.

Capitol Pride (Salem's Gay yearly Pride Event) is held in early August.

Museums and other points of interest
Oregon State Capitol
Downtown Salem looking westIn addition to the Oregon State Capitol and adjacent Willson Park, Salem's downtown contains the Mission Mill Museum, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, the Elsinore Theatre, Riverfront Park, the Willamette River, some of the oldest buildings in Oregon, as well as shopping and restaurants. The A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village interactive children's museum and Prewitt-Allen Archaeological Museum are both also located in Salem.

The two leading candidates for the tallest building in Salem are Salem First United Methodist Church and the Capitol Center. A private survey commissioned by a local publication holds that the church is the tallest. The tall white spire of the 1878 church rises at the intersection of Church and State Streets across from the Capitol grounds. The Capitol Center (originally the First National Bank Building, then the Livesley Building) was built in 1927 by former Salem mayor Thomas A. Livesley, a prominent Salem-area businessman and civic leader. At that time of its completion, it was the tallest commercial building in the state.

In 1988, Livesley's family home was purchased through private donations and was donated to the state. It now serves as the official residence of the Governor and family. Now known as Mahonia Hall, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1990.

The Oregon Symphony, based in Portland, presents approximately ten classical and pops concerts each year in Salem. The Salem Chamber Orchestra includes professional area musicians as well as students. The Salem Armory Auditorium has hosted touring bands including Korn and Phish.

Because Salem is the state capital, it has a multitude of government agencies, departments, and boards housed in buildings with architectural designs ranging from the early 20th century to examples of state-of-the-art civil building design.

The historic Reed Opera House in downtown Salem has a number of local shops and dining establishments, as well as an art gallery.

Salem has been awarded "Tree City USA" status by the National Arbor Day Foundation for 30 consecutive years for its dedication to urban forestry. Salem was the first city in Oregon to receive the award. In keeping with the city's "Cherry City" theme, flowering cherry trees have been planted along many Salem streets as well as on the Capitol Mall across from the Capitol.

The Salem Public Library's main branch is located just south of downtown. A branch library is located in West Salem (Polk County). The Library participates in the Chemeketa Cooperative Regional Library Service, so Salem Public Library cards are also valid in the member libraries in Yamhill, Polk, Marion, and parts of Linn County.

Salem and its environs have a multitude of wineries and vineyards that are open to the public, including Oregon's oldest winery, Honeywood Winery.

SportsThe Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, a minor league baseball team, play their home games in the city of Keizer, which adjoins Salem on the north. The Salem Stampede of the International Basketball League play their home games at the Salem Armory. Three teams within the Eugene-based NNFL are from Salem; the Copperheads, Chargers, and three-time league champion, Pioneers. Also playing in Salem is the Cascade Surge, a minor league soccer team associated with the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL). The Surge play home games at McCulloch Stadium on the campus of Willamette University. The Willamette University Bearcats, are a Division III athletics program.

Parks and recreation
City parks
Salem's Department of Community Services Parks Operations Division is responsible for a park system encompassing 1,874 acres (758 ha) with 29.53 miles (47.52 km) of trails, 46 parks, and another 55 open and undeveloped areas.

Minto-Brown Island Park is the largest at 898.9 acres (363.8 ha).

Bush's Pasture Park, a 90.5 acres (36.6 ha) urban park a few blocks south of downtown Salem, features natural groves of native Oregon White Oak trees, the historic Bush House, a rose garden, and adjacent Deepwood Estates.

Other city parks include 101 acres (41 ha) Cascade Gateway Park and 23-acre (9.3 ha) Riverfront Park which is adjacent to downtown and the Willamette River and is home to the Salem Carousel. Marion Square Park is downtown next to Marion Street Bridge and has a skatepark and basketball court. The skatepark also allows bicycles. Marion Square Park was laid out by city founder William H. Willson, and is the next oldest municipal park in Salem after Willson Park at the Oregon State Capitol.

Across the Willamette River in West Salem is the 114 acres (46 ha) Wallace Marine Park, which includes a boat ramp and floating boat dock allowing easy access to the river for water sports. The NRHP-listed Union Street Railroad Bridge, repurposed as a bicycle and pedestrian bridge, connects Wallace Marine Park and West Salem to Riverfront Park and downtown Salem.

Salem is also home to one of the smallest city parks in the world, Waldo Park, which consists of a single Sequoia tree. Mill Ends Park park in Portland is the smallest in the state.

The capitol grounds, which is maintained by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, cover three city blocks and include Willson and Capitol parks.

Recreation
Other large parks located in the Salem area include 1,680 acres (680 ha) Willamette Mission State Park north of the city, and Silver Falls State Park east of Salem. Both of these parks have extensive hiking, biking, and horse trails.

Salem's central location provides access to a wide variety of recreational activities in a variety of climates and geographies year round. The Coast Range and the Pacific Ocean is to the west. The Santiam Canyon area, the Western Cascades and the High Cascades are to the east. Portland, Oregon and its environs are to the north, while Eugene, Oregon and its environs are to the south.

Salem also provides two great frisbe golf courses. A nine hole course located in the woods of Woodmansee Park (located behind Judson Middle School), and a more open style 18 hole course located throughout Cascade Gateway Park. They are both free and open to the public.

Education
Elementary and secondary
Salem's public elementary and secondary schools are part of the Salem-Keizer School District which has approximately 39,000 students and is the second largest public school district in the state. The city also has many private elementary and secondary schools such as Blanchet Catholic School and Salem Academy Christian. One school, Willamette Academy, is part of an outreach program run by Willamette University that is designed to expose under represented students to the rewards of an academic life at an early age (7th–12th grade).

Salem is also home to several public boarding schools, the Chemawa Indian School a Native American high school and the Oregon School for the Deaf.

Colleges and universities
Post secondary schools include Chemeketa Community College, Corban University, Tokyo International University of America and Willamette University, the oldest university in the American west.

Portland State University and Eastern Oregon University provide classes and a handful of undergraduate degrees at Chemeketa Community College.

Bahrain campaign to humiliate Shiites goes beyond politics

Bahrain ( officially the Kingdom of Bahrain English), is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.

Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands, the largest being Bahrain Island, at 55 km (34 mi) long by 18 km (11 mi) wide. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway. Qatar is to the southeast across the Gulf of Bahrain. The planned Qatar Bahrain Causeway will link Bahrain and Qatar and become the world's longest marine causeway.

Known for its oil and pearls, Bahrain is also home to many large structures, including the Bahrain World Trade Center and the Bahrain Financial Harbour, with a proposal in place to build the 1,022 m (3,353 ft) high Murjan Tower. The Qal’at al-Bahrain (the harbour and capital of the ancient land of Dilmun) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The Christian Science Monitor: Bahrain campaign to humiliate Shiites goes beyond politics
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Ayat Al Gormezi penned a naughty poem about Bahrain’s prime minister last February, questioning his parentage. In another poem, she imagined a conversation between Bahrain’s king and the devil. Then she read her rhymes in public, which got posted on YouTube in the early days of Bahrain's uprising when the country was electric with hope and excitement.

But the government quickly turned on pro-democracy protesters like Ms. Gormezi, who was picked up on March 30, two weeks into a brutal, ongoing crackdown.

In the first week of her detention, she was blindfolded, beaten, and forced to stand for hours while her abusers repeatedly played a CD of her YouTube readings, according to people familiar with her case. They forced open her mouth and spat into it. A female officer stuck a toilet bowl brush into her mouth. She was given electric shocks to her cheeks. In graphic language, male security officers described how they were going to rape her, though they never did. She was not allowed to call her family.

Last week, she was charged by a military tribunal with breaching public security by participating in a public gathering, insulting the king, and inciting hatred and contempt for the government.

Al Gormezi’s ordeal and hundreds of others documented by Bahraini and international human rights groups underscore a deeply troubling aspect of the Bahraini government’s policy of repression: Apart from quashing political dissent, the Sunni-led government appears bent on psychologically humiliating the island’s Shiite majority into silent submission.

RECOMMENDED: Bahrain protests: Five key facts

“The only reason I can see for being detained is that I’m Shia,” says one recently released detainee. “I didn’t do anything.... Basically they are terrorizing us ... financially, psychologically, and physically. It’s war against us. So what are we doing here?”

Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa is scheduled today to visit the White House and meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Regarded as more conciliatory than other members of Bahrain’s ruling royal family, he will no doubt stress the lifting of the state of emergency on June 1, and the recent call by his father, King Hamad Al Khalifa, for renewed political dialogue starting July 1.

It was the crown prince who said on TV at the outset of Bahrain's uprising that citizens had a right to protest. Citizens like Gormezi had been thrilled with the opportunity to publicly speak their minds without fear of retribution. In the country’s biggest demonstrations ever, thousands gathered in the capital's Pearl Roundabout in mid-February to demand political reforms. The Health Ministry sent supplies to the medical tent, treating sick protesters.

Then, in a flash, the government turned on the protesters. An estimated 1,000 Bahrainis have been detained in the ongoing crackdown, many of them subjected to abusive treatment in prison and pseudo-trials in the military justice system.

Amid signs that Bahrain's continuing crackdown is fueled by sectarian animosities, the Sunni rulers' calls for dialogue ring hollow for many.

“It’s a stupid strategy the government has … [because] in the long run it creates more hatred toward the government,” says Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Mr. Rajab, who has twice been prevented from traveling abroad and questioned by military prosecutors, questioned the possibility of dialogue “without creating the environment for it.”

Unlike past crackdowns, women not spared

The government is tightly restricting visas for international media, making it difficult to report on events in Bahrain. Most people contacted by the Monitor insisted on anonymity because they had been warned of repercussions against themselves and relatives if they spoke with the media.

Bahraini security forces regularly steal money, phones, and other items from homes or cars stopped at checkpoints, says the former detainee, adding: “To them, it’s not stealing because we are Shia and we don’t have the right to live here. It’s a Sunni country and has to remain like this.”

Torture is widely used even against women, and includes beatings while blindfolded, forced standing for many hours, and electric shocks on the cheeks, according to human rights groups and former detainees.

A report issued last week by a group called Justice for Bahrain listed 49 females still held. It noted an interview given to Al Jazeera by a doctor, Farida Al-Dalal, who said that, while in detention, she and others were ordered to dance, and called “dirty Shiites” and “Idiots who do not deserve wearing the white coat.”

Unlike in past crackdowns, women are not being spared his time, human rights activists said. “They want to send a message that no one in this crackdown is protected,” says Mohammed Al-Maskati, head of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.

Shiite mosques and medical personnel targeted

In another sign of the government’s apparent intent to demean Shiites, who are around 60 to 70 percent of the population, it has demolished 43 Shia religious buildings, most of them mosques, according to a government tally. And of the estimated 1,700 to 2,000 workers who were dismissed from their jobs for alleged antigovernment protests, most are Shiites.

On Monday, 48 medical doctors and nurses, most of them still in detention, were arraigned before a military tribunal, with 20 of them charged with felonies and the rest with misdemeanors. Most are Shiites. Their trial will resume June 13.

The doctors were dressed casually, some of them in pajamas, and all had their heads shaved, according to a witness. Their blindfolds and handcuffs were only removed when the session began, and they met their lawyers for the first time at the arraignment.

Rights activist Maskati said that many medical personnel were forced to make false confessions on video, admitting that they stole medical equipment or did unnecessary operations.

One former detainee says interrogators accused some medical personnel of intentionally causing some patients to die because, as they said, “‘the more martyrs you have, the stronger your revolution will be and the more people will be on your side.’”

“They think we want more martyrs. I’s unbelievable,” the former detainee says.

“It’s very depressing and especially because nobody is with us,” the released prisoner says. “We feel we are fighting alone and nobody is standing beside us. Even the United States of America is calling for human rights and calling for democracy all over the world, except for in Bahrain.”

Residents evacuate along swollen Missouri River

Bismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County.[4] It is the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city's population was 61,272 at the 2010 census,[1] while its metropolitan population was 108,779.[5] Bismarck was founded in 1872 and has been North Dakota's capital since it gained statehood in 1889.

Bismarck is situated on the east bank of the Missouri River, directly across the river from Mandan.[6] The two cities make up the core of the Bismarck-Mandan Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The North Dakota State Capitol, the tallest building in the state, towers over the central part of Bismarck. The state government employs more than 4,000 in the city. As a hub of retail and health care, Bismarck is the economic center of a large portion of south-central North Dakota and north-central South Dakota.

Reuters: Residents evacuate along swollen Missouri River

Reuters) - Residents evacuated some affluent areas of North Dakota and South Dakota on Friday along the swollen Missouri River as federal officials kicked up water releases to relieve pressure on six Upper Plains reservoirs.

And the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday closed the entire 734 mile length of the river to recreational traffic until the high waters decrease, following the voluntary halting of operations by business vessels.

About 400 residents of upscale neighborhoods on the river in Bismarck, North Dakota's capital, were evacuating and South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard urged residents of the "country club" area of Dakota Dunes to exit by midnight.

In Bismarck, workers were nearing the end of a race to finish a series of levees on Friday as federal water managers ramped up spills upstream from Garrison Dam, officials said.

Mayor John Warford said Bismarck was approaching the eleventh hour and urged residents to "focus on the fight."

Voluntary evacuations were largely complete from lower lying areas of Pierre, South Dakota's capital, and nearby Fort Pierre that would flood if levees fail, Daugaard said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers increased the water flow through the Oahe Dam above Pierre rapidly as planned on Friday morning. The river level is expected to rise about four feet as releases accelerate to maximum planned levels by Tuesday.

Eric Stasch, Corps operations manager at the Oahe Dam, said the Corps planned to increase flows in two stages on Friday and Saturday to "make these rises a little more manageable."

Heavy rains coupled with a deep melting snowpack have swelled Missouri River reservoirs from Montana through South Dakota to near capacity.

Flows from most Missouri River reservoirs already were at record levels on Friday and the accelerated releases will add several feet to the high river levels deep into July.

DOWNSTREAM BRACING FOR SEVERE FLOODING

Residents in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri also were braced for widespread flooding. The maximum planned release rates are expected to push the Missouri River up to seven feet above flood stage at Sioux City, Omaha and Kansas City.

The governors of Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska have been surveying areas already flooding along the Missouri River.

"The Missouri River will be high for the rest of the summer," said John Grothaus, chief of planning in the Corps' Kansas City district.

Officials stopped short of mandatory evacuations in South Dakota. Up to 3,000 Pierre and Fort Pierre residents and more than 800 of the 1,100 homes in Dakota Dunes are threatened.

Police and National Guard members will go door-to-door in Dakota Dunes to warn residents who stay that the risks will rise with the water, utilities will be cut off eventually and they may not be able to leave later, Daugaard said.

A primary levee in Dakota Dunes was nearly done on Friday and the Corps expects a backup levee to be finished Tuesday.

In Montana, the Corps increased water flows from Fort Peck Dam, while widespread flooding of Missouri tributaries has forced hundreds of evacuations and inundated several smaller cities, including Roundup where workers were pumping Friday.

"We've had floods in the past, we've had disasters in the past, but we've never had anything that spreads from border to border like this," said Monique Lay, spokeswoman for Montana Disaster and Emergency Services.

In the Red River valley system nearby, officials in Minot, North Dakota, said Friday they would evaluate daily whether to keep up a mandatory evacuation of 12,000 residents, or a quarter of the city, due to flooding along the Souris River.

The Missouri River basin forms the northwest section of the Mississippi River system that stretches from the Rockies to western New York in the north and funnels water down through Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Corps held water in the Missouri reservoirs to reduce the impact from record Mississippi River flooding earlier this year. Mississippi flood stages are expected to be extended a few weeks by the releases, but not raised.

Merkel Faces Achilles Heel in Grids to Unplug German Nuclear

Bloomberg.com: Merkel Faces Achilles Heel in Grids to Unplug German Nuclear
Chancellor Angela Merkel must carry out a 10 billion-euro ($14.4 billion) expansion of Germany’s electricity-delivery network or her decision to exit nuclear power can stunt growth in Europe’s largest economy.

Cables are needed to connect new offshore wind farms in the north to the factory-rich south and high-volume lines to France are necessary for imports to cover a shortfall as Germany phases out reactors that provide 23 percent of demand. A grid upgrade is essential, and Germans must end their opposition to new power lines overhead, energy economics professor Christoph Weber said.

“The grids are the Achilles heel and greatest challenge of the energy policy,” University of Duisburg Essen’s Weber said in an interview. “The government will have to overcome significant problems on the ground to get the lines built.”

Germany became the biggest economy to plan an atomic-power exit after a meltdown in Japan stoked safety concerns, costing Merkel’s Christian Democrats votes in state elections. Europe’s largest power market will be a test case for whether an industrialized nation can rely far more on clean energy without eroding corporate profit, according to Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen.

An improved power network to avoid potential blackouts would be paid for largely by business and residential power consumers and benefit carmakers in the south including Daimler AG and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, as well as equipment suppliers including Siemens AG (SIE) and Switzerland’s ABB Ltd. (ABBN)

Legal Challenges
Infrastructure projects often face resistance from local residents concerned that home prices and quality of life will decline. EON AG, the country’s largest utility, is fighting legal challenges to finish building a coal-fired power plant in the town of Datteln while Elia System Operator SA’s German unit is trying to convince local authorities to proceed with a plan to build power lines through a forest in the state of Thuringia.

To kick-start the work, the Economy Ministry plans to use fast-track powers last exercised in 1990, when united Germany replaced crumbling roads in the east to improve connections in the country. Control over approving power grids would be taken by Merkel’s government from states and local councils. Her cabinet is set to discuss the energy policy overhaul on June 6.

The country needs to construct 3,600 kilometers (2,235 miles) of power lines by 2020 to link renewable energy projects with consumers and guarantee stability on the grid, the German Energy Agency said in November. That would cost 9.7 billion euros and include connecting offshore wind farms, according to the agency, a think tank owned by Allianz SE, Deutsche Bank AG, DZ Bank AG, KfW Group and the government.

Boost Capacity
“The north-to-south and border connections will need to be developed” as wind parks off the coast start and utilities sell more power from France and the Czech Republic to German consumers, according to Weber.

Utilities will need to “strengthen the power grid, boosting north-south capacity and allowing for a growing percentage of intermittent renewable energy being fed in,” James Stettler, a London-based UniCredit SpA analyst, and colleague Alasdair Leslie wrote in a May 31 note to clients.

Siemens, Schneider Electric SA (SU), ABB and Alstom SA (ALO) may benefit from demand for transmission products, according to UniCredit. Siemens, a stock the analysts rate “buy,” is “particularly well-placed” given that it sells wind turbines, transmission and distribution equipment, gas-fired power plants and other energy products, according to the note.

Gas-fired power plants are used to shadow renewable energy output because they can increase and reduce generation quicker than other reactors or coal-fired stations.

Source Abroad
While Germany will add gas-fired plants, the country could have to source as much as 10 percent of its annual power use from abroad during the phase-out, said Weber.

Merkel said May 30 that Germany will raise renewable power output to 35 percent of the country’s supply in 2020 from 17 percent last year. The government already had a target of more than 30 percent and has said 35 percent would be achievable.

Germany is considering reducing the guaranteed, above- market rate paid for solar power by 6 percent on March 1, Environment Minister Roettgen said at a May 30 press conference in Berlin. That would come on top of cuts of as much as 24 percent between July and next January to adapt the subsidy to falling panel prices.

The government has cut subsidies further than it originally planned over the last two years after panel prices slumped with an increase in Chinese imports.

“It’s clearly possible to boost solar use in Germany: they have not yet managed to stop their market growing explosively despite increasing tariff cuts,” said Jenny Chase, Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s lead solar analyst. “The challenge will be handling intermittency. Expect Germany to become very, very interested in a Europe-wide grid and power storage.”

US Capitol Cities: Olympia, Washington

From Wikipedia

Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census. Olympia is a major cultural center of the Puget Sound region.

History
The site of Olympia was home to Lushootseed-speaking peoples for thousands of years, including Squaxin, Nisqually, Puyallup, Chehalis, Suquamish, and Duwamish. The first recorded visit by Europeans was in 1792 when Peter Puget and a crew from the British Vancouver Expedition charted the site.

In 1846, Edmund Sylvester and Levi Smith jointly claimed the land that now comprises downtown Olympia. In 1851, the U.S. Congress established the Customs District of Puget Sound for Washington Territory and Olympia became the home of the customs house. Its population being steadily expanded from Oregon Trail immigrants, in 1853 the town settled on the name Olympia, at the suggestion of local resident Colonel Isaac N. Ebey, due to its view of the Olympic Mountains to the northwest. The area began to be served by a small fleet of steamboats known as the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet.

In 1896, Olympia became the home of the Olympia Brewing Company, which brewed Olympia Beer until 2003.

A 1949 earthquake damaged many historic buildings beyond repair, and they were demolished. Parts of the city also suffered damage from earthquake tremors in 1965 and the 2001 Nisqually earthquake.

In 1967, the state legislature approved the creation of The Evergreen State College in Olympia. Because of the college's presence, Olympia has become a hub for artists and musicians, and was recently named one of the best college towns in the nation for its vibrant downtown and access to outdoor activities.

Geography and climate
Olympia is located at 47°2′33″N 122°53′35″W / 47.0425°N 122.89306°W / 47.0425; -122.89306 (47.042418, -122.893077).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 18.5 square miles (48 km2), of which, 16.7 square miles (43 km2) of it is land and 1.8 square miles (4.7 km2) of it (9.77%) is water.

The city of Olympia is located at the southern end of Puget Sound on Budd Inlet. The Deschutes River estuary was dammed in 1951 to create Capitol Lake. Much of the lower area of downtown Olympia sits on reclaimed land. The cities of Lacey and Tumwater border Olympia.

The climate of Olympia is a Marine West Coast climate), though sometimes characterized as Mediterranean. Most of western Washington's weather is brought in by weather systems that form near the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. It contains cold moist air, which brings western Washington cold rain, cloudiness, and fog. November and December are Olympia's rainiest months. City streets, creeks, and rivers often flood during the months of November through February. Olympia averages 50.8 inches (1,290 mm) of precipitation per year and has a year-round average of 75% cloud cover. According to one MSNBC study, Olympia had more rainy days per year on average over the past 30 years than any city in the lower 48 states.

Snow for the 1971-2000 period averaged 14.7 inches (37.3 cm), but the median was much lower, at 4.3 inches (10.9 cm).

Parks
Olympia has a wide array of public parks and nature conservation areas. The Woodard Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area is a 600-acre (2.4 km2) parcel that preserves more than 5 miles (8.0 km) of Puget Sound waterfront along the Woodard and Chapman bays of the Henderson Inlet. Percival Landing Park includes 0.9 miles (1.4 km) of boardwalk along Budd Inlet, as well as a playground, picnic areas and a large open space.

The Watershed Park is the site of the former water works for the city, and today features a loop trail with a large second-growth forest. Other parks include Priest Point Park, Burfoot Park, Sunrise Park and Yauger Park, which is home to one of Olympia's public skate parks including Friendly Grove which is nestled in a small Eastside Community. The Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is located just outside of Olympia, as is the Capitol State Forest.

Artesian water
Olympia was historically dependent on artesian waters. Early settlers in Swantown and Tumwater used artesian springs for their main water supply. The artesian spring at Fourth Avenue and Main Street (now called Capitol Way) was the main community well where settlers gathered to socialize. The artesian well in the Diamond Parking lot at Fourth Avenue and Jefferson Street is active, located in the parking lot 421 4th Street. The City of Olympia is purchasing the lot, in part to maintain the well.

Another still flows at the corner of Olympia Avenue and Washington Street in the Bigelow Neighborhood. The northeast end of Capitol Lake was the location of an artesian well until the construction of a new park that included changes to the shoreline. McAllister Springs, the main water source for Olympia, is fed by artesian wells, and the former Olympia Brewery is supplied by 26 artesian wells.

In downtown Olympia, current efforts to preserve the use of artesian water at the one remaining public well has been the mission of H2Olympia: Artesian Well Advocates.In 2011, the city of Olympia committed $50,000 towards improvements of an artesian well, located in a parking lot that was recently purchased by the city.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 42,514 people, 18,670 households, and 9,968 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,544.4 people per square mile (982.3/km²).

There were 19,738 housing units at an average density of 1,181.3 per square mile (456.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 85.3% White, 1.9% African American, 1.3% Native American, 5.8% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 1.7% from other races, and 3.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.4% of the population. 15.0% were of German, 11.3% Irish, 10.0% English, 6.0% Norwegian and 5.3% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 91.6% spoke English, 2.9% Spanish and 1.7% Vietnamese as their first language.

There were 18,670 households out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.6% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.6% were non-families. 35.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.88.

In the city the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 11.9% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $40,846, and the median income for a family was $54,136. Males had a median income of $41,267 versus $31,515 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,590. About 6.9% of families and 12.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.4% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Schools and universities
Olympia's main public school district is the Olympia School District. Olympia School District enrolled 9,231 students in K-12, based on the 2005-06 school year enrollment report. The school district has a total of 18 schools: 11 elementary schools, 4 middle schools and 3 high schools. Its high schools are Olympia High School (originally known as William Winlock Miller High School), Capital High School, and Avanti High School.

In the 2007-2008 school year, Olympia began the new Parent Partnership Program, which provides more opportunities to homeschooling families. Olympia's online high school, Olympia Regional Learning Academy (ORLA), is also part of the same program. Private elementary schools include Olympia Waldorf School, Olympia Community School, St. Michael School, Holy Family, and Evergreen Christian. Private middle schools include NOVA Middle School.

In addition to primary & secondary schools, Olympia has a number of institutions of higher learning, including The Evergreen State College, South Puget Sound Community College, and St. Martin's University in adjacent Lacey, Washington.

Arts
Olympia is a regional center for fine arts. A number of theatrical experiences are available with companies such as Capital Playhouse, Olympia Family Theater, Theater Artists Olympia (TAO), Olympia Little Theater, and Harlequin Productions at the historic State Theater. The Olympia Symphony Orchestra performs five regular season concerts at the Washington Center and two pop concerts.

Visual art venues include some of the local coffeehouses, such as Batdorf & Bronson and Caffe Vita in downtown. A gallery called Art House Designs presents works of sculpture, painting, and printmaking and hosts a jazz performance space. Murals and public art installations of sculpture are prevalent in Olympia, and are especially featured on the State Capitol Campus and along Percival Landing on the urban waterfront. South Puget Sound Community College has a gallery in its Minnaert Center with rotating exhibitions. The Washington Center for the Performing Arts also presents visual art exhibitions throughout the season in the spacious lobby areas.

Outside Olympia city limits, two visual art venues are notable: Art In Ecology is a long-established art-in-the-workplace venue that features works by northwest artists. Housed in Washington Department of Ecology, in neighboring Lacey, solo shows and group exhibitions rotate throughout the year. Permanent installations by Alfredo Arreguin are juxtaposed with works by 20-30 other northwest artists throughout the spacious and light filled building. Appointments are needed to view the 322,000-square-foot (29,900 m2) building, and tours of the whole space usually take about an hour. Also notable is the Gallery in the Library Building at the Evergreen State College, northwest of Olympia.

Each year the Olympia Film Society (OFS) produces a nationally-recognized[citation needed] film festival and fosters film and video education in Olympia. It also shows independent, classic and international films year-round at the art-deco Capitol Theater. A mostly volunteer-powered organization, OFS supports and presents a variety of culture events, including All Freakin' Night, an all-night horror film screening with a cult following.

On the fourth Saturday in April, in honor of Earth Day, Olympia is host to one of the region's largest community celebrations - the Procession of the Species celebration. Held in conjunction with the city's biannual Arts Walk, the Procession is organized by the community-based non-profit organization, Earthbound Productions. Structured around an annual Community Art Studio that is free and open to the public, organizers provide art, music and dance workshops during the preceding seven weeks leading up to the Procession weekend.

In its July 2009 Best of America feature, Reader's Digest magazine honored the Procession of the Species with the top spot in its “can’t resist” parades and processions list. Open to all, the Procession of the Species attracts up to 30,000 viewers, while its costumed participants of all ages frequently number nearly 3,000. On the Friday evening before the Procession of Species, a Luminary Procession is held.

Sports
In 1984, Olympia hosted the U.S. Olympic women's marathon trial. The winner of the event was Joan Benoit who would later win a gold medal at the first women's Olympic marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympic games in Los Angeles.

Olympia is the home of the Oly Rollers, the local women's flat track roller derby league whose travel team (the Cosa Nostra Donnas) became the 2009 national champions of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) by winning the national "Declaration of Derby" tournament in Philadelphia, PA on November 15, 2009. Olympia is also home to some of the Pacific Northwests greatest running talents such as the Guerilla Running Racing Club.

Transportation
RailAmtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Olympia-Lacey at Centennial Station. Amtrak train 11, the southbound Coast Starlight, departs Olympia at 11:21am with service to Centralia; Portland; Sacramento; Emeryville, California (with bus connection to San Francisco); and Los Angeles. Amtrak train 14, the northbound Coast Starlight, departs Olympia at 6:22pm daily with service to Tacoma and Seattle. Amtrak Cascades trains, operating as far north as Vancouver and as far south as Eugene, Oregon, serve Olympia-Lacey several times daily in both directions.

Bus
Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, and the surrounding area are primarily served by Intercity Transit. Routes from other transit services such as Grays Harbor Transit, Mason Transit, and the Tacoma/Lakewood Express with Pierce Transit. Intercity Transit maintains a free shuttle route called "Dash". Dash runs from the Capitol Campus to the Farmers Market at the far edge of downtown. In 2009 Intercity Transit won an award for Americas best Public Transportation System in the mid size category by the American Public Transportation Association.

Oroumieh Lake turning to salt

Lake Urmia (Oroumieh) ancient name: Lake Matiene) is a salt lake in northwestern Iran, near Iran's border with Turkey. The lake is between the Iranian provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan, west of the southern portion of the similarly shaped Caspian Sea. It is (or rather, was) the largest lake in the Middle East, and the third largest salt water lake on earth, with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km² (2,000 mile²), 140 km (87 miles) length, 55 km (34 miles) width, and 16 m (52 ft) depth.





From YahooNews: Oroumieh Lake turning to salt
OROUMIEH LAKE, Iran -- From a hillside, Kamal Saadat looked forlornly at hundreds of potential customers, knowing he could not take them for trips in his boat to enjoy a spring weekend on picturesque Oroumieh Lake, the third largest saltwater lake on earth.

"Look, the boat is stuck... It cannot move anymore," said Saadat, gesturing to where it lay encased by solidifying salt and lamenting that he could not understand why the lake was fading away.

The long popular lake, home to migrating flamingos, pelicans and gulls, has shrunken by 60 percent and could disappear entirely in just a few years, experts say – drained by drought, misguided irrigation policies, development and the damming of rivers that feed it.

Until two years ago, Saadat supplemented his income from almond- and grape-growing by taking tourists on boat tours. But as the lake receded and its salinity rose, he found he had to stop the boat every 10 minutes to unfoul the propeller – and finally, he had to give up this second job that he'd used to support a five-member family.

"The visitors were not enjoying such a boring trip," he said, noting they had to cross hundreds of meters of salty lakebed just to reach the boat from the wharf.

Other boatmen, too, have parked their vessels by their houses, where they stand as sad reminders of the deep-water days. And the lake's ebbing affects an ever-widening circle.

In April, authorities stopped activities at the nearby jetty in Golmankhaneh harbor, due to lack of water in the lake, now only two meters deep at its deepest. Jetties in Sharafkhaneh and Eslami harbors faced the same fate.

The receding water has also weakened hotel business and tourism activities in the area, and planned hotel projects remain idle since investors are reluctant to continue.

Beyond tourism, the salt-saturated lake threatens agriculture nearby in northwest Iran, as storms sometimes carry the salt far afield. Many farmers worry about the future of their lands, which for centuries have been famous for apples, grapes, walnuts, almonds, onions, potatoes, as well as aromatic herbal drinks, candies and tasty sweet pastes.

Story continues below
AdvertisementAdvertisement"The salty winds not only will affect surrounding areas but also can damage farming in remote areas," said Masoud Mohammadian, an agriculture official in the eastern part of the lake, some 370 miles (600 kilometers) northwest of the capital Tehran.

Other officials echoed the dire forecast.

Salman Zaker, a parliament member for Oroumieh warned last month that, "with the current trend, the risk of a salt tsunami is increasing." Warning that the lake would dry out within three to five years – an assessment agreed to by the local environment department director, Hasan Abbasnejad – Zaker said eight to 10 billion tons of salt would jeopardize life for millions of people.

Masoud Pezeshkian, another lawmaker and representative for city of Tabriz in the eastern part of the lake said, "The lake has been drying but neither government nor local officials took any step, so far."

How did this disaster develop, and what can be done now?

Official reports blame the drying mainly on a decade-long drought, and peripherally on consumption of water of the feeding rivers for farming. They put 5 percent of the blame on construction of dams and 3 percent on other factors. Others disagree about the relative blame.

The first alarm over the lake's shrinking came in late 1990s amid a nagging drought.

Nonetheless, the government continued construction of 35 dams on the rivers which feed the lake; 10 more dams are on the drawing boards for the next few years.

Also completed was a lake-crossing roadway between Oroumieh and Tabriz, cities on the west and east of the lake. No environmental feasibility study was done in the planning for the road, and environmentalists believe the project worsened the lake's health by acting as a barrier to water circulation.

Nasser Agh, who teaches at Tabriz Sahand University, suggested miscalculations led to late reaction to save the lake. "Experts believed it would be a 10-year rotating drought, at first," he said. But long afterward, the drought still persists, with devastating effects.

In the early 2000s, academic research concluded that the lake could face the same destiny as the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which has been steadily shrinking since rivers that feed it were diverted by Soviet Union irrigation projects in 1960s. It is now less than one-tenth of its original size.

In April, the Iranian government announced a three-prong effort to save the lake: a cloud-seeding program to increase rainfall in the area, a lowering of water consumption by irrigation systems, and supplying the lake with remote sources of water.

Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh, vice-president to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in charge of environmental affairs, said the government approved the three-part approach.

Some experts termed the weather control portion of the program as only a "symbolic action" by government, saying the best answer would be to release more water currently being held back by dams. The evaporation rate has been three times the rainfall rate, making the rivers' historic role vital to sustaining the lake.

"The lake is in such a misery because of the dams," Ismail Kahram, a professor in Tehran Azad University and a prominent environmentalist, told The Associated Press. Three-fifths of the lake has dried up and salt saturation has reached some 350 milligrams per liter from 80 milligrams in 1970s, he said.

Kahram said the government should allow 20 percent of the water from the dams to reach the lake.

Mostafa Ghanbari, secretary of the Society for Savior of the Lake Oroumieh, believes transferring water from the Caspian Sea may be "the only way to save" the lake. But such a project would be ambitious, requiring the pumping of water some 430 miles (700 kilometers), from a body of water at considerably lower elevation.

In the green and beautiful city of Oroumieh, famous for peaceful coexistence between Azeri people, Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians as well as Muslims and Christians, talk about the fate of the lake is common among ordinary people in teahouses and on the streets.

Many express happiness with the government decision to manipulate clouds in hopes of increasing rainfall.

"It is a good decision. Every evening I look at the dark clouds that are coming and I tell my family soon there will be rain," and on some nights there have been showers, said Masoud Ranjbar, a taxi driver.

However, Eskandar Khanjari, a local journalist in Oroumieh, called the cloud-seeding plan "a show." He said recent rainfall was only seasonal, as predicted by meteorologists.

Scoffing at the promises of officials and what he called "non-expert views," he said of efforts to save the lake: "It seems that people have only one way; to pray for rain."

Beyond the debates by national and local authorities some folks here suggest another way Oroumieh could be saved.

A local legend says wild purple gladiolas have had a miraculous role in doing just that. The flowers have grown every year for a thousand years in the spot where a princess of Oroumieh was killed as she warned the people of the city about an invading enemy.

As a recent sunset turned the lake golden, Kamal the boatman tried to find some hope in the returning blossoms.

"You see, still wild purple gladiolas are appearing in the spring," he said. "The city and its lake can eventually survive."

Joplin searches through wreckage

Downtown Joplin before the latest tornado




Joplin is a city in southern Jasper County and northern Newton County in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. Joplin is the largest city in Jasper County, though it is not the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 50,150. In 2009, the surrounding Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated population of 174,300.

Although often believed to be named for ragtime composer Scott Joplin who lived in Sedalia, Missouri, Joplin is actually named for the Reverend Harris Joplin, the founder of the area's first Methodist congregation. Joplin was established in 1873 and expanded significantly from the wealth created by the mining of zinc, its growth faltering after World War II when the price of the mineral collapsed. The city gained additional renown as one of the stops on the historic Route 66.

On May 6, 1971, Joplin was struck by a severe tornado resulting in one dead and 50 people injured, along with major damage to many houses and businesses.

On May 22, 2011, Joplin was hit by a very intense tornado causing 89+ deaths and injuries along with major damage to many houses, St. John Medical Center, and multiple school buildings.

USAToday: Joplin searches through wreckage

Joplin residents searched through major tornado devastation Monday morning as another severe storm threatened to bear down on the region and rescuers warned the death toll could climb.

At least 89 people were killed in the massive tornado that tore 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.

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 moving into the area was likely to hamper door-to-door searches for survivors.

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

He said the storm heading toward the city could have wind speeds up to 60 mph and hail as big as a 1/4-inch around.

A massive storm system dropped the tornado into the heart of Joplin Sunday evening.

Cramer said a team of meteorologists was en route to Joplin to begin determining the path and devastation of the tornado. He said meteorologists had not determined the scale of the tornado nor did they have a solid number of dead or injured.

Roger Dedick and his wife survived the storm by taking shelter in the couple's garage, which is partly underground. There are no walls on the house the couple lived in for 17 years.

"That's all that's left," Dedick said, pointing to a section of foundation with a small stairwell.

Dedick said his ears popped as the tornado blew the windows out of the garage. He said he had to use a metal bar to pry his way out of the rubble of his home.

Lance Gaines has been in the Joplin area since 11 last night. He's a member of a search-and-rescue group made up mostly of firefighters from Fayetteville, Ark.

Gaines said he's been searching almost non-stop since arriving in Joplin and has not found anyone in the rubble.

Searching for survivors is difficult because all the street signs have been knocked down, so it's difficult to pinpoint a location.

The Springfield Police Department sent 10 officers last night to help relief efforts, public information officer Matt Brown said.

He said officers are assisting Joplin officials by maintaining perimeters around damaged buildings and offering other services.

City Manager Mark Rohr announced the number of known dead at a pre-dawn news conference outside the wreckage of a hospital that took a direct hit from the storm. His own home was among the buildings destroyed as the twister swept through this city of about 50,000 people about 160 miles south of Kansas City.

The Joplin twister was one of 68 reported tornadoes across seven Midwest states over the weekend, from Oklahoma to Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. One person was killed in Minneapolis.

The devastation in Missouri was the worst of the day, reminiscent of the tornadoes that killed more than 300 people across the South last month.

Sunday's storm in Joplin hit a hospital packed with patients and a commercial area including a Home Depot construction store, numerous smaller businesses, restaurants and a grocery store. Jasper County Emergency Management Director Keith Stammer said about 2,000 buildings were damaged.

Among the worst-hit locations in Joplin was St. John's Regional Medical Center. The staff had just a few moments' notice to hustle patients into hallways before the storm struck the nine-story building, blowing out hundreds of windows and leaving the facility useless.

In the parking lot, a helicopter lay crushed on its side, its rotors torn apart and windows smashed. Nearby, a pile of cars lay crumpled into a single mass of twisted metal. Matt Sheffer dodged downed power lines, trees and closed streets to make it to his dental office across from the hospital. Rubble littered a flattened lot where a pharmacy, gas station and some doctors' offices once stood.

"My office is totally gone. Probably for two to three blocks, it's just leveled," he said. "The building that my office was in was not flimsy. It was 30 years old and two layers of brick. It was very sturdy and well-built."

St. John's patients were evacuated to other hospitals in the region, said Cora Scott, a spokeswoman for the medical center's sister hospital in Springfield.

Early Monday morning, floodlights from a temporary triage facility lit what remained of the hospital that once held as many 367 patients. Police officers combed the surrounding area for bodies.

Miranda Lewis, a spokeswoman for St. John's, was at home when the tornado sirens began going off. Early Monday, she had no details on any deaths or injuries suffered at the hospital in the tornado strike, although she had seen the damaged building.

"It's like what you see someplace else, honestly," Lewis said. "That's a terrible way to say it, but you don't recognize what's across the street.

"I had seen it on television, but until you're standing right here and see the devastation, you can't believe it."

Michael Spencer, a national Red Cross spokesman who assisted in the aftermath of a tornado that devastated nearby Pierce City in 2003, was stunned.

"I've been to about 75 disasters, and I've never seen anything quite like this before," Spencer said. "You don't typically see metal structures and metal frames torn apart, and that's what you see here."

Triage centers and shelters set up around the city quickly filled to capacity. At Memorial Hall, a downtown entertainment venue, nurses and other emergency workers from across the region 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. During one stretch after midnight Monday, emergency vehicles were scrambling nearly every two minutes.

Winds from the storm carried debris up to 60 miles away. Medical records, X-rays, insulation and other items fell to the ground in Greene County, said Larry Woods, assistant director of the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management.

Travel through and around Joplin was difficult as Interstate 44 was shut down and streets were clogged with emergency vehicles and the wreckage of buildings.

Emergency management officials rushed heavy equipment to Joplin to help lift debris and clear the way for search-and-recovery operations. President Obama said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was working with state and local agencies.

Jeff Lehr, a reporter for The Joplin Globe, said he was upstairs in his home when the storm hit but was able to make his way to a basement closet.

"There was a loud huffing noise, my windows started popping. I had to get downstairs, glass was flying. I opened a closet and pulled myself into it," he told the Associated Press. "Then you could hear everything go. It tore the roof off my house, everybody's house. I came outside, and there was nothing left."

An aching helplessness settled over residents, many of whom could only wander the wreckage bereft and wondering about the fate of loved ones.

Justin Gibson, 30, huddled with three relatives outside the tangled debris field of what remained of a Home Depot. He pointed to a black pickup that had been tossed into the store's ruins and said it belonged to his roommate's brother. "He was last seen here with his two little girls," ages 4 and 5, Gibson said.

"We've been trying to get ahold of him since the tornado happened," Gibson said, adding his own house had been leveled.

"It's just gone. Everything in that neighborhood is gone. The high school, the churches, the grocery store. I can't get ahold of my ex-wife to see how my kids are," he said, referring to his three children, ranging in age from 4 months to 5 years.

"I don't know the extent of this yet," Gibson said, "but I know I'll have friends and family dead."