At least one tornado swept through Mississippi on Friday night, with multiple thunderstorms in the area. The tornado caused devastation in Silver City and Rolling Fork in particular. Roofs were torn off houses, trees uprooted and power lines damaged. Some parts of the city were almost razed to the ground.
The storm left a trail of destruction covering a distance of more than 170 miles in just over an hour, Lance Perriloux of the National Weather Service told public radio station NPR. “This is one of the rarest tornadoes we’ve seen in Mississippi history based on longevity and strength over a period of time,” Perrilloux said. At least one other, weaker tornado may have hit the state, but this is yet to be confirmed.
AP/Jim Lytle Tornado left a trail of destruction
“We will do everything we can to help”, promised the president of the United States, Biden, in front of the “moving” images of Mississippi. The head of the national disaster management agency FEMA, Deanne Criswell, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wanted to visit the affected region on Sunday.
New storm warning
The weather service also warned of severe hailstorms that could reach the size of chicken eggs on Sunday. Other tornadoes and wind gusts with speeds greater than 110 km/h are also possible. Meteorologists assume that the storms will only weaken in the evening and will likely be followed by isolated showers.
Portal/SevereStudios/Jordan Hall In some cases entire settlements were razed to the ground
America’s poorest state
Mississippi is considered the poorest state in the USA, which is why these disasters hit people there especially. Reconstruction can take many years. About 2,000 people lived in the almost completely destroyed small town of Rolling Fork – many of them in converted caravans. Much of the population lives below the country’s poverty line.
“My city is gone. But we will be resilient and come back,” the city’s mayor, Eldridge Walker, told American television on Saturday. When the storm warning came, he and his wife took shelter in their home’s bathtub. Now your city offers an image of “complete devastation”.
Tornadoes are difficult to predict. They are relatively common in the United States, especially in the central and southern parts of the country. Just a few days ago, a tornado near Los Angeles, in the US state of California, caused considerable destruction. Wednesday’s storm brought down roofs on houses and overturned cars. In January, a series of tornadoes in Alabama and Georgia killed several people.