Rolling Fork was “pretty devastated” with many people stuck in their homes.
At least 23 people were killed and dozens injured when a tornado and severe thunderstorms swept through Mississippi late Friday, the state’s emergency management agency said after the tornado left a trail of damage over more than 160 km.
Four people were missing as search and rescue teams scoured the destruction for survivors after the storm hit Silver City, a town of 200 in western Mississippi, the Management Agency said. from the Mississippi ER in a series of tweets.
F5 tornado hits Rolling Fork, Mississippi, seven reported dead, but death toll likely to rise pic.twitter.com/N6GUl2NcVz
— Malinda (@TreasChest) March 25, 2023
“Unfortunately, those numbers are set to change,” he said, referring to the death toll.
Search and rescue teams were also in Rolling Fork, a town of 1,700 that bore the brunt of the tornado, CNN reported.
These photos show the devastation after a tornado passed through Rolling Fork, Mississippi. The storm carved an extremely wide path through the center of the city. (Photo credit: Mike Evans WLBT) pic.twitter.com/pxuqOOwjft
– WLBT 3 on your side (@WLBT) March 25, 2023
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Brandy Showah told CNN. “It was a very big little town, and now it’s gone.”
Showah told the network that her grandmother’s house suffered damage.
“My friend was trapped in her house a few houses down, but we got her out,” Showah said, adding that there were people who lived next door to her grandmother still trapped in their homes.
Visible and infrared satellite loop of low-key tornado warned supercell southeast of Jackson, Mississippi. #MSwxpic.twitter.com/JDqcjg10o0
— Collin Gross (@CollinGrossWx) March 24, 2023
Rolling Fork was “pretty devastated” with many people stuck in their homes, United Cajun Navy President Todd Terrell told ABC News. His group is a team of volunteer lifeguards.
Terrell compared the destruction to a tornado in Joplin, Missouri, in 2011 that killed 161 people.
At least 24 reports of tornadoes were transmitted to the National Weather Service Friday evening and Saturday morning by storm chasers and observers. The reports stretched from the western edge of the Mississippi north through midstate and into Alabama.
It just passed through Florence. Taken from 2nd Street in Muscle Shoals looking north. @spann@simpsonWVTM13@BradTravisWAFFpic.twitter.com/rm56Ba7OG1
—Richard Boyd (@chemical_coach) March 25, 2023
Photographs of the destruction released by news networks showed entire buildings left in rubble and cars flipped on their sides as people climbed through the rubble in the dark.
“Many in MS Delta need your prayers and God’s protection tonight,” Governor Tate Reeve said in a tweet.
“We have activated medical support by increasing the number of ambulances and other emergency means for those affected. Search and rescue are active.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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