An Ann Arbor native who recently moved to the Joplin, Mo., area has seen firsthand the destruction of the tornado that struck that community Sunday night, and she spent the minutes after the storm frantically searching for her boyfriend, WDIV Channel 4 in Detroit reports.

Eryn Fenske was about 15 minutes away from Joplin as the tornado approached and on the phone with her boyfriend, who was watching it from his apartment in Joplin, she told the Detroit television station. Suddenly the phone went dead, and she didn't hear from him again until she learned he was in a hospital with a broken hip.

She drove to the town, and said the devastation she witnessed made her wonder how anyone could have survived.

The tornado killed at least 116 people, and rescuers fear the death toll could rise.

• Read the WDIV story.