At least 26 people were killed, and scores more were injured as a tornado and violent thunderstorms swept through Mississippi late on Friday, the state’s emergency management officials reported.
The tornado left a trail of destruction that stretched more than 160 kilometres.
The storm had hit Silver City, a community of 200 people in Western Mississippi. Four people were still missing as search and rescue crews sifted through the rubble in search of survivors, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said in a series of tweets.
The Mississippi Disaster Management Agency tweeted late Saturday afternoon that 25 people had died and numerous others had been injured. Four people who had been reported missing earlier had been found.
Other parts of the Deep South were digging out from the damage caused by other suspected twisters. Morgan County’s sheriff’s office in Alabama tweeted that one individual had passed away.
Tate Reeves, the governor of Mississippi, declared a state of emergency and pledged to assist in the recovery as he travelled to survey the damage in an area dotted with vast tracts of cotton, corn, and soybean farms ponds used for catfish farming. Moreover, President Joe Biden pledged federal assistance and called the destruction “heartbreaking.”
News networks released images of the devastation that showed buildings covered in rubble and automobiles turned on their sides as individuals clambered through the debris at night.
