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Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Toxic Town Hit by Tornado, May Pose Health Risks


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A twister touches down near Anadarko, Oklahoma, on May 3, 1999.

A similar tornado blew through the heavily polluted former mining town of Picher, Oklahoma, last weekend, prompting the U.S. EPA to check for high lead levels on Monday.

The tornado was one of several that combined to kill 22 people in the Midwest and the South, raising the nation's 2008 total to about a hundred, the worst toll in a decade.

Photograph courtesy OAR/ERL/National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL).