At least twenty-three people were killed during the passage of a tornado and violent thunderstorms in Mississippi, said the governor of this state in the south of the United States, Saturday, March 25. “We know that many more [people] are injured. Search and rescue teams are still active,” Governor Tate Reeves also tweeted.
The Mississippi State Emergency Services (MSEMA) further noted on Twitter that it was “unfortunately…expected these numbers to change” upwards. “The state has deployed relief assets in Sharkey and Humphreys counties,” about 110 kilometers north of the capital Jackson, Malary White of MSEMA told ABC. “We have activated the medical support system – increasing the number of ambulances and other emergency devices to [assist] those affected,” Tate Reeves tweeted.
Television footage showed flattened homes and lots of debris strewn across roads as emergency services tried to reach people in need of help. “My town no longer exists,” the mayor of Rolling Fork, a town of some 2,000 people in west-central Mississippi, which was particularly affected by the tornado, told CNN.
Tornado watch lifted at 2:48 a.m.
According to ABC, at least 13 people died in Sharkey County, three in neighboring Carroll County, and two others in Monroe County. Separately, a traffic cop in Silver City, Humphreys County, reported one person dead to ABC.
“In terms of the extent of the damage, we won’t dispose of that until daybreak,” Malary White said. “Our priority at this point, especially for the emergency services, is [to ensure] the safety of lives and to locate people to verify that they are safe,” she explained on the channel. local WJTV, affiliated with CBS News.
Tornado warnings had been issued Friday in several counties of this state but Saturday at 2:48 a.m. (8:48 a.m. in Paris), the branch of the National Weather Service (NWS) of Jackson had specified that “the watch for tornadoes was lifted throughout the area concerned”. “Further showers and more thunderstorms are expected in our area,” he tweeted, noting that “forecast shouldn’t be heavy.”
