US President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi early Sunday morning, enabling federal funding for Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties, the areas hardest hit by a deadly tornado that struck the Friday the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest regions in the United States.
At least 25 people died and dozens more were injured in Mississippi as the massive storm swept through several towns for an hour. A man died in Alabama after his mobile home flipped several times.
Search and recovery teams resumed the Herculean task of digging through the wreckage of flattened and damaged homes, commercial buildings and municipal offices on Sunday after hundreds of people were displaced.
The administrator of the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was scheduled to visit the state on Sunday to assess the destruction.
FEMA Coordinating Agent John Boyle was left to oversee federal recovery operations. Biden’s emergency declaration allows federal funding to be used for recovery efforts such as temporary housing, home repairs, loans to cover losses on uninsured property and other programs for businesses and individuals, according to a White House statement.
The tornado flattened entire blocks, smashed homes, smashed a church steeple and toppled a municipal water tank. As recovery efforts began, the National Weather Service warned of the risk of more severe weather Sunday, including gales, heavy hail and the possibility of tornadoes, in eastern Louisiana, south central Mississippi and south central Mississippi. Alabama.
Based on early data, the tornado was given an initial classification of EF-4, the Jackson office of the National Weather Service tweeted Saturday night. An EF-4 tornado has maximum gusts between 265 and 320 kilometers per hour (166 to 200 miles per hour), according to the service. Jackson’s office advised that it was still gathering information on the tornado.
The tornado devastated part of the Rolling Fork town of 2,000, reducing homes to piles of rubble, flipping cars on their side and knocking over the water tank. Other areas of the southern United States were removing debris from other potential tornadoes. A man died in Alabama’s Morgan County, police in the region tweeted.
Pope Francis offered a special prayer for the people of Mississippi “hit by a devastating tornado” during his weekly blessing on Sunday outside the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square.
“I don’t know how anyone survived,” said Rodney Porter, who lives 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Rolling Fork. Porter said he immediately drove to the scene to help after the storm hit Friday night. When he arrived, he found “total devastation” and said he smelled natural gas as he heard people calling for help in the dark.
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