Several states in the southeast and south of the United States remain on high alert for torrential storms and tornadoes that could also affect Mississippi, which is trying to recover from the events that occurred on Friday, which have caused at least 25 deaths.
The National Weather Service reported Sunday that it has issued a tornado watch for southern and central Alabama, where a person was killed by another tornado on Friday.
Intense tornadoes, heavy hail, and scattered damaging wind gusts could occur in the area.
A tornado watch has also been issued for eastern Louisiana and south-central Mississippi, where there could be multiple tornadoes and hail and wind.
Some 30 million people live in the affected area and will be exposed to these phenomena that will happen at night, something that makes them more dangerous, the Meteorological Service specified.
“Night tornadoes are dangerous as they are difficult to detect in the dark and many people are asleep or unaware of the weather at night,” he said in a message on social media.
The Mississippi Weather Service also warned that new tornadoes could occur in the next few hours, although in the southern part of the state, not in the counties most affected by the events that occurred Friday night, Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey.
This morning another “large and extremely dangerous” tornado struck south of LaGrange, Georgia, the weather service in Atlanta noted, an event for which no deaths have been recorded so far.
These alerts come two days after a series of tornadoes – about ten, estimated by weather services – hit the states of Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee on Friday night, causing 26 deaths (25 in Mississippi and 1 in Alabama) and dozens of wounded.
This Sunday a press conference took place in the municipality of Rolling Fork, which has been completely destroyed, according to the images published by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MSEMA), in which rubble from houses appears ( many of wood), crushed vehicles and uprooted trees.
The governor of Mississippi, the Republican Tate Reeves, reported that they are carrying out search tasks for several missing people, that they are “very closely monitoring” the possible meteorological phenomena that may be in the state today and that there are emergency personnel Prepared to act if necessary.
“People should listen to their local officials and heed their warnings and follow their instructions regarding what to do if a severe weather event is imminent,” he said.
Reeves said there is “some chance that the death toll could go up” but it could also go down as there are suspicions that some of the deaths did not occur “because of the storm.”
The governor was accompanied at the press conference by the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, who reiterated state support for the recovery of the area, a few hours after Joe Biden declared this Sunday a “great disaster” area affected counties.
Biden thus made federal funds available to affected people in Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties, and announced that the aid could be expanded to other areas if necessary.
“We walked through the streets of this town seeing devastation on both sides of the road,” Mayorkas said. “It’s heartbreaking to hear about the loss of life and see the devastation firsthand, but it’s inspiring to see the people of Mississippi coming together to help,” he added.
With his statement, Biden ordered federal aid to supplement recovery efforts, with assistance that may include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and homeowners. business to recover from the effects of the disaster.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the designated agency to coordinate federal recovery operations in affected areas, while damage assessment efforts continue in other areas and more counties could be designated as recipients for help when they are complete.
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