At least23 people were killed and dozens of others were injuredFriday after tornadoes swept through Mississippi, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA).
MEMA shared early Saturday morning that in addition to those killed and injured in the storms, four other people remained missing as of 6:20 a.m. local time.
“We have numerous local and state search and rescue teams that continue to work this morning,” the organization said in a statement on Twitter. “A number of assets are on the ground to assist those that have been impacted.”
MEMA then said that its numbers are “expected to change.” It added that its command staff was meeting Saturday morning to find more information and decide on a “plan of action,” with “information regarding sheltering and feeding operations coming soon.”
At 8:05 p.m. local time on Friday, the National Weather Service in Jackson confirmed a tornado was on the ground andapproaching the town of Rolling Fork. As tweets began to pour in about people being trapped in their homes, and images began to surface of the damage done to the communities impacted, the NWS said a tornado emergency remained in effect until 9 p.m., as it advised residents to “take cover now.”
Tornado damage in Mississippi.Rogelio Solis/AP/Shutterstock
Less than an hour later, the NWSconfirmed that the tornadotouched down and caused damage in the towns of Silver City and Rolling Fork, and was projected to move into the northwest side of Tchula at the time.
With awater towerknocked down, and acrisis shelteropened in Rolling Fork, the impact of the storm appeared to be extensive.
Impact of Friday night’s tornado in Mississippi.Rogelio Solis/AP/Shutterstock
Rolling Fork resident Brandy Showah told CNN that the town is no longer the same after the storm. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Showah said. “This was a very great small town, andnow it’s gone.”
“As we begin the process of surveying the tornado damage from yesterday evening, we want to thank all the media, spotters, first responders, emergency management officials, and members of the public who provided real-time storm reports and pictures,” theNWS wrote on Twitter.
Impact of Friday night’s tornado in Mississippi.MISSISSIPPI HIGHWAY PATROL HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Sharkey County coroner Angelia Easton told ABC News that13 people died in her county, but she could not confirm their ages. In other areas, Carroll County coroner Mark Stiles confirmed three deaths and Monroe County coroner Alan Gurley confirmed two, while Jose Watson of the state’s highway patrol confirmed one person died in Humphreys County, according to ABC News. Gurley told NBC News that aman and his daughter were the two killed.
In a video shared on Facebook,Watson advised peopleto “not come to” Silver City if they didn’t have any immediate family there. In his clip, Watson showed a large amount of damage in the city.
“Please do not come to Silver City,” he said. “Because at this time, because of the number of people that are in place that are here, it’s making it difficult for first responders to get into this debris. We can’t even get emergency equipment in there, we can’t get the tractors and the bull dozers in there … if y’all would do that for us, we’d appreciate it.”
United Cajun Navy President Todd Terrell told ABC News that Rolling Fork was “pretty much devastated,” adding that “there’s a lot of people still trapped in their homes.”
“It seems as though the big ones hit at night, and you don’t have a warning for him,” he said. “We knew that it was going to be bad in that areas, but nobody can prepare to prepare for this total devastation.”
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Per the Storm Prediction Center and CNN,at least 11 tornadoswere reported in Mississippi and Alabama on Friday — including the ones that touched down in Rolling Fork, Silver City and Winona.
The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama tweeted overnight that in one section of the state, storm debrisstretched a mile.
As for power outages,over 68,000 establishments across Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee remained without poweras of 10 a.m. EST, per PowerOutage.us.
source: people.com
