Help began to be organized Sunday in Mississippi after the devastating passage two days before tornadoes which killed at least 25 people, and where new severe weather is expected in the evening.
The number of deaths Sunday morning “still stands at 25 with dozens injured,” said the Mississippi Emergency Services (MSEMA), which further specifies that this figure is “subject to change”.
The tornadoes traveled over Mississippi from west to east for more than 150 km, leaving “devastating damage” in their wake, according to the governor of this state in the southern United States, Tate Reeves.
One was preliminarily rated Category 4 (out of 5 on the Fujita scale), according to MSEMA, while the National Weather Services (NWS) said it lasted one hour and 10 minutes. and traveled nearly 95 km.
In Rolling Fork, a municipality of some 2,000 inhabitants hit hard by this tornado on Friday, the streets resemble a “war zone”, explains to AFP John Brown, an official of the Red Cross for Alabama and the Mississippi.
The city woke up on Sunday to spring sunshine but with the threat of potential new thunderstorms.
And the damage extends as far as the eye can see.
When the roofs of some houses held, they were gutted. But many of them simply flew away.
In front of the devastated houses, the cars bear witness to the violence of the tornado. Some were smashed into each other, all had their windows smashed, many had their bodies pounded by countless blows, and one vehicle was thrown atop a mound of debris.
Aid began to organize in the city on Saturday. The American Red Cross has taken over a National Guard building, where food and necessities are pouring in alongside cots.
Some have traveled dozens of kilometers to lend reinforcements.
Jon Gebhardt, an assistant professor of military science at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, some three hours from Rolling Fork, said he arrived Friday night into Saturday after the tornado hit to help put the center on foot.
Faced with the “pain and anguish” of the inhabitants, “I cried a lot” on Saturday, he admits to AFP.
On Saturday evening, electricians in pick-up trucks drove around the city to try to restore power as quickly as possible, amid numerous police cars.
“We’re going to do everything we can through housing (solutions) and other means to get people back to this city as quickly as possible,” Gov. Tate Reeves said at a Sunday news conference in Rolling. Fork.
The governor was accompanied by Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas, who spoke of a “heartbreaking” situation over the deaths and devastation he saw.
The Minister also raised the issue of climate change.
“We are seeing extreme weather events increasing in both severity and frequency,” he said.
“We must build our cities in such a way that we are as prepared as possible, able to respond quickly and recover” as quickly as possible, added Alejandro Mayorkas.
President Joe Biden on Sunday ordered the deployment of federal aid, which is used for short-term housing, repairs and soft loans to cover uninsured property losses.
He had assured Saturday that the federal state would do “everything it can to help”, “as long as it takes”.
Further severe weather is expected Sunday evening in Mississippi, MSEMA announced.
“There are heightened risks of severe weather” in parts of Mississippi, the agency tweeted.
“Destroying gusts and tornadoes are possible,” she added.
Across the southern United States, thunderstorms were also particularly intense on Friday.
In Alabama, a neighboring state of Mississippi, a man died after his trailer overturned, according to local police.
Tornadoes, a meteorological phenomenon as impressive as they are difficult to predict, are common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country.
As of December 2021, approximately 80 people had lost their lives after tornadoes hit Kentucky.
03/26/2023 20:43:42 – Rolling Fork (United States) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
