Mississippi was devastated by the tornado, which killed at least 23 people

ATAt least 23 people were killed after a tornado swept through Mississippi, the southern state’s governor said on Saturday, leaving a devastated landscape.

“This is a tragedy,” Gov. Tate Reeves said on Twitter, referring to the “catastrophic damage” after the tornado swept more than 150 km from west to east through Mississippi on Friday evening.

And the numbers could get worse.

“Unfortunately, these numbers are expected to change,” Mississippi State Emergency Services (MSEMA) said on Twitter. Rescue teams are engaged in searching for the victims.

EPA.

In Rolling Fork, a town of about 2,000 people in west Mississippi, images Saturday morning showed entire rows of houses torn from their flimsy foundations, streets strewn with debris and cars overturned on their roofs. Two semi-trailers were piled on top of each other.

One house had trees uprooted and pieces of metal wrapped around the trunks, still standing but wobbly, the ground collapsing.

“Almost everything has been washed away” in the city, Patricia Perkins, 61, told AFP by phone.

“Most of the shops were demolished by the typhoon,” says an employee of a hardware store.

“My town is no more”

Ricky Cox, owner of a seed company in Rolling Fork, told AFP by phone last night that “it’s complicated to get into town.”

In the dark, it wasn’t easy to assess the damage, but early in the morning, “it’s a lot worse than I thought,” the 61-year-old man said.

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“I know two friends lost their lives,” he explains, as the tornado “hit their homes directly.”

On CNN, Rolling Fork’s mayor, Eldridge Walker, insisted, “My city is no more.”

According to the city council member, several victims were found and removed from the rubble of their homes and taken to hospitals for treatment.

“You can replace broken houses, but you can’t replace a life,” said Eldridge Walker.

“The losses in these cities will be felt forever,” tweeted Gov. Tate Reeves, asking for prayers for the victims and their families.

According to ABC, at least 13 people died in Sharkey County, three in neighboring Carroll County and two in Monroe County.

Separately, a Silver City, Humphreys County police officer told ABC that a police officer had died.

“Perseverance”

“For 45 seconds to a minute there was a noise like a train; And then it was over,” Woodrow Johnson, a local Humphrey County official, told CNN about the tornado.

Visually moved, he said he lost his home.

“We are strong, we will persevere, and we will bounce back,” Woodrow Johnson said.

MSEMA’s Mallory White told local channel WJTV that the ‘priority at this point’ is ‘ensuring the safety of survivors and finding people to make sure they are safe’.

Tornado warnings were issued for several counties in Mississippi on Friday.

At 2:48 a.m. Saturday (07:48 GMT), the National Weather Service (NWS) branch in Mississippi’s capital, Jackson, indicated that “the tornado watch has been lifted for the entire affected area.”

“Further showers and thunderstorms are expected in our area,” he tweeted, stressing that “they should not be as strong as forecast.”

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This weather phenomenon, interesting as it is difficult to predict, is relatively common in the United States, especially in the central and southern parts of the country.

As of December 2021, approximately 80 people have died from tornadoes that have hit Kentucky.

Joe Biden reacts

US President Joe Biden spoke of the “heartbreaking images” of the tornado that killed at least 23 people in the state of Mississippi (southern).

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