Volunteers stop to look at debris as they walk to their work site on Thursday, May 26, 2011, in Joplin, Mo. A tornado tore through much of the city Sunday, wiping out neighborhoods and killing at least 123 people. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) 
 
 UPDATED at 5:58 p.m. with new death toll and with Red Cross saying at least nine of unaccounted for are dead. 
 
 JOPLIN, MO. • As emergency workers in Joplin searched Thursday for more than 230 people listed as missing after a tornado tore through the city, one was sitting on a wooden chair outside the wreckage of her home, cuddling her cat. 
 
 Sally Adams, 75, said neighbors rescued her Sunday after the storm destroyed her house and took her to a friend's home. When The Associated Press told her she was on the missing list, Adams laughed and said "Get me off of there!" 
 
 Missouri officials had said they believed many of the missing were alive and safe but simply hadn't been in touch with friends and family, in part because cell phone service has been spotty. The AP found that was the case with at least a dozen of the 232 still unaccounted for Thursday. They included two survivors staying at a hotel, six that a relative said were staying with friends and one that a former employee said had been moved from his nursing home. 
 
 Stephen Whitehead, of the Red Cross' Safe and Well registry, which keeps track of the accounted-for, said that since the missing list came out earlier Thursday, he has learned that at least nine are people who are dead. Whitehead said he did not know whether those nine were among the known fatalities. 
 
 Adams said she lost her cell phone in the storm and had no way of contacting her family to let them know she was OK. She was placed on the missing list after relatives called a hot line and posted Facebook messages saying she was missing. 
 
 Her son, Bill Adams, said he told authorities his mother was alive after he learned she was safe, yet she remained on their unaccounted-for list Thursday afternoon. 
 
 Mike O'Connell, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, said he wouldn't call Adams' listing a mistake and finding her is "a good thing." He urged other survivors to check the list and call if they see their names. 
 
 The AP found Mike and Betty Salzer at a hotel being used by visiting journalists. 
 
 "Well, for Heaven's sakes," Betty Salzer, 74, said when the AP showed her the list. 
 
 The couple have been staying at the hotel since their home was destroyed Sunday. Betty Salzer said their names might have come from a Facebook message her daughter posted before they reached her Monday morning. 
 
 Not all of the stories of the missing will end so well. 
 
 Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr announced Thursday that the death toll had risen to 126. 
 
 Some of their families waited Thursday for their remains to be released. One victim's funeral was scheduled for Friday morning in Galena, Kan., and other services were scheduled for the weekend. 
 
 But some of the bodies have yet to be identified. Andrea Spillars, deputy director and general counsel of the Missouri Department of Public Safety, said officials know some of the people unaccounted for are dead, but she wouldn't say how many or when the names of the deceased would be released. 
 
 Chris Haddock, 23, said his father was one of the deceased on the missing list. A commercial truck driver found 62-year-old Paul Haddock's body in his pickup truck behind a flattened Walmart. 
 
 "They found his wallet and his cell phone in his pocket," Chris Haddock said. "That's how they know it's him." 
 
 In another example of potential overlap, 12 residents of the Greenbriar nursing home are on the missing list. But nursing home administrators reported earlier that 11 people died in the tornado; only one was known missing. 
 
 One of the 12 is Dorothy Hartman, an Alzheimer's patient. Pamela McBroom, 49, who lives near the nursing home, said one of her daughters used to work there, developed a soft spot for Hartman and introduced them. Hartman was frail "but very positive and full of life," she said. 
 
 McBroom said she and her 16-year-old daughter were hiding in a closet when the tornado tore their walls and roof away. Her walls gone, McBroom could see the mayhem at Greenbriar. 
 
 "I could see people flying out of the nursing home by my house," McBroom said. "I could hear them screaming. Just screaming. It was horrible." 
 
 Nursing home officials haven't said whether Hartman was one of the 11 killed. 
 
 Identification of the deceased has been slow because officials have taken extra precautions since a woman misidentified one victim as her son in the chaotic hours after the tornado hit, Newton County coroner Mark Bridges said. 
 
 "That's the reason why we didn't release anybody else until we at least had dental records," Bridges said. 
 
 A federal forensics team of 50 to 75 disaster mortuary specialists has been at work in six refrigerated trucks, collecting DNA samples for testing, taking fingerprints and looking for tattoos, body piercings, moles and other distinctive marks. Bridges expected as many as 19 bodies would be released Thursday. 
 
 He said he's been explaining the reason for the delays to grieving families "all day long." 
 
 "It breaks my heart," he said. 
 
 ____ 
 
 Associated Press writer Alan Scher Zagier contributed to this report. ||||| The first person on the missing list from a Missouri tornado is very much alive. 
 
 A car passes tornado-destroyed buildings and trees as clouds roll in on Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in Joplin, Mo. A tornado tore through much of the city Sunday, wiping out neighborhoods and killing at... (Associated Press) 
 
 Storm clouds pass over the devastated Greenbriar Nursing Home in Joplin, Mo. Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Eleven residents of the facility died when an EF-5 tornado tore through much of the city Sunday, damaging... (Associated Press) 
 
 Cars drive down debris-lined streets on Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in Joplin, Mo. A tornado tore through much of the city Sunday, wiping out neighborhoods and killing at least 123 people. (AP Photo/Mark... (Associated Press) 
 
 The Associated Press found 75-year-old Sally Adams sitting on a wooden chair and cuddling her pet cat Thursday. When AP told Adams she was listed as missing, she laughed and said "Get me off of there!" 
 
 Neighbors rescued Adams on Sunday after the storm destroyed her house and took her to a home nearby. 
 
 Her relatives had called a hot line and posted Facebook messages saying Adams was missing. Adams says she lost her cell phone in the storm and had no way to reassure family. 
 
 Her son Bill Adams says he told authorities his mother was alive after he learned she was safe, yet she remained on their unaccounted-for list at midday Thursday. ||||| The death toll from the monster tornado that ripped through Joplin, Mo., has soared to 116, making it the deadliest single tornado in nearly 60 years, according to federal records. 
 
 And, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon told The Associated Press of the death toll, "Clearly, it's on its way up." 
 
 The lethal Joplin twister has also made 2011 the deadliest year for tornadoes since 1953, with 454 deaths in 1,000 tornadoes so far, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
 
 NOAA began keeping records of tornado fatalities in 1950. Before Sunday's storm, the deadliest tornado hit Flint, Mich., on June 8, 1953, also killing 116 people, although independent record keepers have recorded higher death counts in earlier years. 
 
 This past April also set a record as the deadliest month on record with 361 tornado related deaths, according to NOAA's records. 
 
 The Joplin tornado was rated as an EF-4, the second-strongest classification with winds ranging between 166 and 200 mph. The nearly mile-wide funnel touched down at 5:41 p.m. CT Sunday and blasted a six mile wide path through the city and left trapped survivors crying out for help this morning. 
 
 Rescuers shifted through rubble today looking for survivors as high winds and hail continues to plague the area. 
 
 Want to help? Here is a list of organizations. 
 
 As of approximately nightfall Monday, 17 people had been pulled alive from the wreckage, Gov. Nixon said. 
 
 In fact, the storm and its aftermath included amazing stories of survival. 
 
 One man was saved by rescuers after texting his friend his location and the words, "I'm alive." 
 
 "You see pictures of World War II, the devastation and all that with the bombing. That's really what it looked like," Kerry Sachetta, the principal of Joplin High School, which was mangled by the tornado. "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." 
 
 Nixon declared a state of emergency Sunday evening and activated the Missouri National Guard in response to the destruction. 
 
 Four people were killed at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin when it took a direct hit from the tornado. Patients and staff have been evacuated as damage suffered during the storm has affected the structural integrity of the building. Every window in the facility was blown out and the top two floors were blown off, ABC News affiliate KMBC reported. 
 
 Hospital spokeswoman Cora Scott told the station that 183 patients were in the hospital at the time and the facility only had five minutes warning that the tornado would strike. More than 100 patients have since been evacuated to other hospitals, Scott said. 
 
 Seven people have been reported dead at a nursing home, according to police reports. 
 
 Kelley Fritz, a 45-year-old resident of Joplin, went out with her family after the storm to survey the damage. "My sons had deceased children in their arms when they came back," said Fritz. "My husband and I went out and saw two or three dead bodies on the ground." 
 
 Authorities estimate 25 to 30 percent of Joplin has been damaged by the tornado, with highly populated areas having been hit by the storm. 
 
 Cries could be heard early this morning from people trapped below the wreckage, while crews have been pulling out bodies and lining them up in the streets for loved ones to identify, according to ABC News affiliate KODE. 
 
 Search and rescue efforts are being hampered by continuing severe weather today, including 40 mph gusts and hail. Strong winds can topple the cranes used to lift wreckage, although current wind speeds are still allowing their use. 
 
 More severe weather, including high winds, rain and hail, is expected Tuesday before the storms finally abate later in the week, according to Accuweather meteorologist Mark Paquette. 
 
 There is also a fear of gas explosions in the storm's aftermath and authorities are telling people not to light any cigarettes because so many gas pipes are broken, causing concern that what's left of Joplin might go up in flames, KODE reported. 
 
 "These storms have caused extensive damage across Missouri, and they continue to pose significant risk to lives and property," Gov. Nixon said. "As a state, we are deploying every agency and resource available to keep Missouri families safe, search for the missing, provide emergency medical care, and begin to recover." 
 
 State and local law enforcement agencies, including fire mutual aid, are coordinating search and rescue and recovery operations. The Missouri State Highway Patrol sent troopers from other regions to help local officers in southern Missouri deal with the destruction, the governor's office said in a statement. 
 
 Keith Stammer, emergency management director for the city of Joplin, told "Good Morning America" that all 25 of the city's sirens did activate, and that there was a 20-minute notice from when the sirens were activated before there was a first report of a tornado strike. 
 
 "At the moment its surreal, our landmarks are gone -- road signs, places where you know to turn -- we're doing search and rescue, going house to house on that six mile strip," Stammer told "GMA." 
 
 Jeff Piotrowsky, a storm chaser who was in Joplin at the time the storm hit and spoke to "GMA" about witnessing the tornado form over the city, said, "We saw a big cloud mass and we knew it was going to start tornadoing. It quickly brewed to a half mile wide, then three-quarters ? then it came to the heart of the city," Piotrowsky said, adding that "there was a warning, about 17 minutes." 
 
 Federal Emergency Management Agency Region VII set up a response coordination center and sent a liaison team to the Missouri state emergency communications center, according to a FEMA official. 
 
 "Basically it's an all-out effort to get all of the most important resources available for this type of situation down as soon as possible," a state emergency management representative said. 
 
 In total, 70 tornadoes were produced by the storm system since Friday, including at least 47 tornadoes Sunday. Tornadoes were reported in seven states from the Canadian border to Oklahoma. Warnings and watches were posted from Texas to Michigan. 
 
 President Obama released a statement on the emergency late Sunday night, saying, "Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives in the tornadoes and severe weather that struck Joplin, Missouri as well as communities across the Midwest today. We commend the heroic efforts by those who have responded and who are working to help their friends and neighbors at this very difficult time," Obama said in the statement. 
 
 "At my direction, FEMA is working with the affected areas' state and local officials to support response and recovery efforts, and the federal government stands ready to help our fellow Americans as needed," he added. 
 
 The President is sending FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate to Missouri to ensure that the state has all the support it needs. Today, FEMA Deputy Administrator Rich Serino will also travel to Joplin to survey the destruction in the town and meet with state and local officials. 
 
 Earlier Sunday, tornadoes had torn across other parts of the region, killing at least one person in Minneapolis.
– Joplin officials have released a list of 232 people still unaccounted for in the wake of the deadliest tornado ever recorded in the US. Search and rescue teams haven’t found any new survivors of the disaster since Tuesday, but Joplin officials tell the AP that they don’t think everyone on the list is dead—they suspect many have simply been cut off from communicating with their families because of still-spotty cell phone reception. Indeed, the AP tracked down the first person on the list—75-year-old Sally Adams—and found her alive and well, sitting on a wooden chair and petting her cat. Neighbors rescued Adams after her home was destroyed, but she’s lost her cell phone and had no way to contact her family. Told she was on the missing list, Adams replied, “Get me off of there!”