At least 25 people died after devastating tornadoes ripped through the southern US state of Mississippi, ripping roofs off, smashing cars and flattening entire neighborhoods as the region braced for more severe weather on Sunday.
“This is a tragedy,” state Governor Tate Reeves tweeted, citing “devastating damage” as the tornadoes swept across Mississippi for more than 100 miles from west to east. .
“The scale of loss and damage is evident in all affected areas today,” he said after visiting Silver City, one of the hardest hit cities.
Just completed command briefing with our disaster response team. Devastating damage—as everyone knows. This is a tragedy. I am on my way to Sharkey County to be with the people first hit. We are blessed with brave, capable responders and loving neighbors. Please continue to pray.
The death toll stands at 25 and dozens injured, according to Mississippi State Emergency Services (MSEMA). Four missing persons “have been found”, they added. Search and rescue teams are on the job to find victims.
US 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.
In a previous statement, he spoke of “heartbreaking” images and assured that the federal state would do “everything it can [it] to help”, “as long as it takes”.
In Rolling Fork, a town of some 2,000 people in western Mississippi, there are rows of houses torn from their meager foundations, streets littered with debris and cars on their roofs. The trees were uprooted and pieces of metal wrapped around the trunks.
Some 4,000 residents were without power in Mississippi, and nearly 11,000 homes and businesses remained in the dark in neighboring Alabama, according to poweroutage.us.
Mississippi is bracing for continued tumultuous weather on Sunday, including high winds and hail, with the state’s emergency management agency warning that “the possibility of tornadoes cannot be ruled out.”
“Tornado hunter” Aaron Rigsby says he arrived on Friday night and heard “screams of people trapped in the rubble, calling for help.”
“There was a lady who failed to get to safety in time and was mowed down with the roof of her house falling on her,” he told AFP by telephone. “I managed to free her from the rubble” and seek help when she was injured in the leg, he adds.
Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker said on CNN, “My town doesn’t exist anymore. According to the city councilor, several victims were located and removed from the debris of their homes, before being hospitalized.
“Houses that have been torn away can be replaced, but you cannot replace a life,” Eldridge Walker said. “The losses will be felt in these cities forever,” Governor Tate Reeves tweeted, asking to pray for the victims and their families.
According to ABC, at least 13 people died in Sharkey County, along with three in neighboring Carroll County and two others in Monroe County. Separately, a Silver City, Humphreys County police officer reported one person dead to ABC.
In Alabama, neighboring state Mississippi, thunderstorms were also particularly intense and a man died after his trailer overturned, the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office said.
The “priority at this stage” is to “keep people alive and to locate people to verify that they are safe,” said Malory White of MSEMA.
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.
