Mississippi tornado rescue and recovery continues through wreckage

Search and recovery teams resumed the arduous task of digging through the wreckage of flattened and battered homes, commercial buildings and municipal offices on Sunday after hundreds of people were displaced by a deadly tornado that tore through the Delta. Mississippi, one of the poorest regions in the US

At least 25 people were killed and dozens more were injured in Mississippi as the massive storm tore through several towns on its hour-long track Friday night.

A man has been killed after his trailer overturned several times in Alabama.

The tornado leveled entire blocks, destroyed houses, tore a steeple from a church and overturned a municipal water tower. Even with the recovery just beginning, the National Weather Service warned of a risk of more severe weather on Sunday — including high winds, large hail and possible tornadoes — in eastern Louisiana, south-central Mississippi and south-central Alabama.

Charlie Weissinger throws up signs from one of his father’s demolished law firm offices in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, on March 25, 2023. PA

Based on early data, the tornado received a preliminary rating of EF-4, the National Weather Service office in Jackson said in a tweet late Saturday.

An EF-4 tornado has peak wind gusts between 166 mph and 200 mph, depending on the service.

Jackson’s office said it was still gathering information about the tornado.

President Joe Biden has pledged federal aid to Mississippi and Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was due to visit on Sunday to assess the destruction.

Friday night’s tornado devastated part of the town of Rolling Fork, which has a population of 2,000, reducing homes to rubble, flipping cars on their sides and toppling the town’s water tower.

Other parts of the Deep South were deepening due to damage from other suspected tornadoes. A man has died in Morgan County, Alabama, the sheriff’s department said in a Tweeter.

Melanie Childs of Amory, Miss., sits on a bucket and holds her two children, Mila, 1, left, and Major, 2, as they view what remains of her grandfather, Barrie Young, at home on March 25, 2023.PA

“I don’t know how anyone survived,” said Rodney Porter, who lives 20 miles south of Rolling Fork. When the storm hit Friday night, he immediately went there to help in any way he could. Porter arrived to find ‘utter devastation’ and said he smelled natural gas and heard people screaming for help in the dark.

“Houses are gone, houses piled on top of houses with vehicles on top,” he said.

Annette Body traveled to the hard-hit town of Silver City from nearby Belozi to assess the damage.

She said she felt “blessed” because her own home was not destroyed, but other people she knows lost everything.

An American flag lays on the slab of what used to be a hardware store in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, March 25, 2023.PA

“Cried last night, cried this morning,” she said, looking around at razed houses. “They said you had to take cover, but it happened so fast that a lot of people didn’t even have a chance to take cover.”

Survivors of the storm walked around on Saturday, many dazed and in shock, as they cut through thick debris and fallen trees with chainsaws, looking for survivors.

Power lines were stuck under decades-old oak trees, their roots uprooted from the ground.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency and pledged to help rebuild as he saw the damage in an area dotted with vast swaths of cotton, corn and soybean fields and catfish breeding ponds.

He spoke with Biden, who also held a call with the state’s congressional delegation.

A sheriff’s deputy climbs over a pile of windswept vehicles to search for survivors in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, March 25, 2023.PA


Tracy Hardin (c), who with husband Tim (L) owns Chuck’s Dairy Bar, consoles a neighbor in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, March 25, 2023.PA

More than half a dozen shelters have been opened in Mississippi to house displaced people.

Preliminary information based on storm report estimates and radar data indicates the tornado remained on the ground for more than an hour and traveled at least 170 miles, said Lance Perrilloux, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Jackson, Mississippi.

“It’s rare – very, very rare,” he said, attributing the long run to widespread atmospheric instability.

Perrilloux said preliminary findings showed the tornado began its destructive path just southwest of Rolling Fork before continuing northeast toward the rural communities of Midnight and Silver City and toward Tchula, Black Hawk, and Winona.

The supercell that produced the deadly tornado also appeared to produce damage-causing tornadoes in northwest and north-central Alabama, said Brian Squitieri, severe storm forecaster at the Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman. , Oklahoma.

Not all news on the site expresses the point of view of the site, but we transmit this news automatically and translate it through programmatic technology on the site and not from a human editor.

goadnews

Victoriafox