Mississippi: After a powerful tornado tore through Mississippi, killing at least 25 people, injuring dozens, and flattening entire blocks for more than an hour, rescuers raced on Saturday to look for survivors and assist hundreds of people left homeless. In Alabama, one person passed away.
A section of the Mississippi Delta town of Rolling Fork was completely destroyed by the tornado, which also turned cars on their sides and toppled the water tower. Homes were reduced to nothing more than heaps of rubble.
During the storm on Friday night, locals took cover in bathtubs and hallways. Later, they broke into a John Deere store and turned it into a triage centre for the injured.
Also Read: In Belarus Putin says Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons
Wonder Bolden said as she stood outside the remains of her mother's now-leveled mobile home in Rolling Fork while holding her granddaughter, Journey. "There is nothing but the breeze that is running through it."
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency tweeted late Saturday afternoon that 25 people had died and numerous others had been hurt. Four people who had been reported missing earlier had been located.
Damage from other alleged twisters was being repaired in other areas of the Deep South. The Morgan County sheriff's office in Alabama tweeted that one man had passed away.
On Saturday, survivors combed through debris and downed trees with chain saws in search of others as they walked around dazed and in shock. Oak trees that were decades old had their roots uprooted and were pinned beneath power lines.
As he travelled to survey the damage in a region dotted with vast stretches of cotton, corn, and soybean fields as well as catfish farming ponds, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves declared a State of Emergency and pledged to aid in the rebuilding process. Additionally, President Joe Biden pledged federal assistance and called the damage "heartbreaking."
The extent of the damage in Rolling Fork prompted several storm chasers—those who track severe weather and frequently broadcast livestreams of menacing funnel clouds—to request search and rescue assistance. Others gave up the pursuit to take those who were hurt to the hospital.
The fact that patients had to be transferred due to damage to the community hospital on the west side of town didn't help. A cotton warehouse was also damaged by the tornado, and a church's steeple was torn off a Baptist church
For fifteen minutes, Sheddrick Bell, his partner, and their two daughters cowered in a closet of their Rolling Fork residence. As his daughters sobbed and his partner prayed, windows broke.
According to early research, the tornado's path of destruction started just southwest of Rolling Fork and moved northeast towards the small towns of Midnight and Silver City before making its way to Tchula, Black Hawk, and Winona.
Also Read: The once-bustling Izium in Ukraine bears the deep scars of war and occupation
According to Brian Squitieri, a severe storm forecaster with the weather service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, the same supercell that generated the deadly twister also appeared to produce tornadoes that damaged properties in northwest and north-central Alabama.
First responders in Morgan County, in northern Alabama, managed to free a 67-year-old man who had become trapped beneath a trailer that had overturned during violent overnight storms, but the man later passed away at a hospital, according to AL.com.
The Storm Prediction Center issued a warning for hail, wind, and possibly a few tornadoes Sunday in parts of Mississippi and Louisiana while survey teams work to determine how many tornadoes were struck and how severe they were. With his wife and daughter, who is three years old, Cornel Knight waited for the tornado to hit at a relative's house in Rolling Fork. Its path was discernible despite the darkness.
Every transformer that blew could be seen in a specific direction, he claimed. The tornado struck another relative's house, collapsing a wall and trapping several people, just a cornfield away from where he was.
The damage was compared to that caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 by Royce Steed, the emergency manager for Humphreys County, where Silver City is situated. After crews had finished searching all the buildings, they turned their attention to assessing the damage. "It is almost total devastation," he said. "This small, abandoned town has been virtually erased from the map; I have no idea how many people live there. Noel Crook's house in the town had lost its roof.
There is nothing I can do about yesterday because it was yesterday and is now gone, Crook said. Tomorrow has not yet arrived. You have no control over it, which is why I'm here right now.
One Mississippi meteorologist paused to pray as the tornado approached the town of Amory, which is located about 25 miles (40 kilometres) southeast of Tupelo. The tornado appeared to be so powerful on radar.
Oh man," Matt Laubhan of WTVA exclaimed during the live broadcast. "Dear Jesus, kindly assist them. Amen. There is currently a curfew in place and the water in that town is boiling. The hordes of displaced people are being fed by three shelters in the state.
As he made his way to the area and stopped to pick up supplies along the way, William Trueblood of the Salvation Army said, "It's a priceless feeling to see the gratitude on people's faces to know they're getting a hot meal."
Despite the harm, there were encouraging signs. According to poweroutage.us, the number of power outages, which at one point were affecting more than 75,000 customers in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, had been reduced by a third by midafternoon on Saturday.
Also Read: Battle for Bakhmut is being managed to stabilise
As much as a week in advance, according to Walker Ashley, a professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University, meteorologists had predicted a significant tornado risk for the entire region. Ashley and other tornado specialists have warned about a higher risk exposure in the area as a result of more construction.
Ashley wrote in an email, "Disaster will happen if you combine a fast-moving, long-track nocturnal tornado with a particularly socioeconomically vulnerable landscape."