More than two dozen dead after tornado tears across Mississippi

By Brendan O'Brien and Lucia Mutikani

(Reuters) -Rescuers combed through rubble on Saturday after a powerful storm tore across Mississippi overnight, killing at least 25 people there and another in Alabama, levelling dozens of buildings and spawning at least one devastating tornado.

The tornado stayed on the ground for about an hour and cut a path of destruction some 170 miles (274 km) long, according to preliminary information, said Nicholas Price, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, Mississippi.

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Video taken in the town of Rolling Fork, a town of 1,700 in western Mississippi that was hit hardest, showed homes reduced to rubble, tree trunks snapped like twigs and cars that had been tossed aside. The town's water tower lay twisted on the ground.

Governor Tate Reeves, who visited the tornado-struck town of Silver City, declared a state of emergency in the affected areas.

"The scale of the damage and loss is evident everywhere affected today," he wrote on Twitter. "Homes, businesses ... entire communities."

An aerial view of destroyed homes after thunderstorms spawning high straight-line winds and tornadoes ripped across the state in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, U.S. March 25, 2023. REUTERS/Cheney Orr

In Alabama, which was also struck by the same storm system, rescuers pulled a man from the mud when his trailer was overturned, but the man died from his injuries, according to the Morgan County Sheriff's Office. That appeared to be the only reported death in that state as of Saturday afternoon.

U.S. President Joe Biden described the images from Mississippi as "heartbreaking" and said in a statement that he had spoken with Reeves and offered his condolences and full federal support for the recovery.

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"To those impacted by these devastating storms, and to the first responders and emergency personnel working to help their fellow Americans, we will do everything we can to help," Biden said. "We will be there as long as it takes. We will work together to deliver the support you need to recover."

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director Deanne Criswell will travel to Mississippi on Sunday, the White House said. Criswell told CNN that FEMA already had staff on the ground and that the American Red Cross was helping to set up shelters for people whose homes were destroyed.

A law enforcement cuts a tree with a chainsaw to free a trapped police vehicle after thunderstorms spawning high straight-line winds and tornadoes ripped across the state in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, U.S. March 25, 2023. REUTERS/Cheney Orr

'MY CITY IS GONE'

Mississippi's emergency management agency said on Saturday afternoon that the death toll had risen to 25, with dozens more injured. Four people who had been reported missing earlier have been located, the agency said.

At least 12 of those deaths occurred in Rolling Fork, its mayor, Eldridge Walker, told CNN earlier in the day.

"My city is gone, but we are resilient," Walker said on CNN. "We are going to come back strong."

Jarrett Brown, a volunteer with the disaster response organization Team Rubicon who traveled in Rolling Fork, told Reuters the damage showed that the storm was inescapable for some residents.

"In some of these areas, there was no safe spot to go to," he said via a video call.

Jeremy McCoy, a constable in neighboring Yazoo County who had gone to Rolling Fork to assist with rescue efforts, told CNN of the grim situation on the ground and stepping on nails in the rubble.

Cedric Miles, 42, searches for belongings inside his destroyed home after thunderstorms spawning high straight-line winds and tornadoes ripped across the state in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, U.S. March 25, 2023. REUTERS/Cheney Orr

"I've never seen anything like that," said McCoy. "You hope to hear somebody call, a baby crying, a dog barking or something, but hear nothing."

Tim and Tracy Harden, owners of Chuck's Dairy Barn in Rolling Fork, said in a Facebook post that they hid inside a small walk-in cooler one minute before the tornado demolished their building.

"Forever grateful to the customer with the broken arm that kept going and freed us all from the cooler," they wrote.

The National Weather Service has deployed teams to assess the damage and determine how many tornados touched down, according to Price, the meteorologist.

At least 24 reports of tornadoes, stretching from western Mississippi into Alabama, were issued to the National Weather Service on Friday night and into Saturday morning by storm chasers and observers.

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Thumbnail courtesy of Cheney Orr/via REUTERS.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, Lucia Mutikani in Washington, Brendan O'Brien in Chicago and Joseph Ax in New York. Additional reporting by Deborah Lutterbeck in Washington. Writing by Lucia Mutikani and Joseph Ax. Editing by Frances Kerry, Daniel Wallis, Matthew Lewis and Marguerita Choy)