The small rural town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, lies in ruins.
Trees toppled, roofs collapsed, power lines and poles leaned precariously over highways after a tornado reduced much of it to rubble as it tore through the Mississippi Delta late Friday, leaving a trail of devastation in one of the poorest regions of the country.
At least 25 people died in Mississippi and one man died in Alabama.
“It sounded like a freight train,” Andrew Dennard told NBC News on Saturday, adding that an airborne piece of wood narrowly missed his head as it crashed into his Rolling Fork home, shattering glass. “I don’t think we’re going to rebuild from this,” added the 28-year-old. «It is worse than death.»
Early Sunday, President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Mississippi and ordered federal aid to supplement recovery efforts, the White House said in a statement. Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was also scheduled to visit on Sunday to assess the destruction.
But as recovery efforts continued, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center warned that severe thunderstorms will bring «the possibility of a couple of strong tornadoes» in the central Gulf states on Sunday.
As a result, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency tweeted that residents should «have a plan» and «know your safe place.»
It came after Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency and vowed to help rebuild the region dotted with vast stretches of cotton, corn and soybean fields and catfish farming ponds. More than half a dozen shelters have been opened in the state to house the displaced.
Based on early data, Friday’s tornado has been given a preliminary rating of EF-4, the National Weather Service office in Jackson said in a statement. cheep on Saturday night, adding that he was still gathering information.
An EF-4 tornado has maximum wind gusts between 166 mph and 200 mph, according to the service.
Preliminary information based on estimates from storm reports and radar data indicates the tornado was on the ground for more than an hour and traversed at least 170 miles, Lance Perrilloux, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Washington, told the Associated Press. Jackson.
«That’s rare, very, very rare,» he said, attributing the long drive to widespread atmospheric instability. He added that preliminary findings showed the tornado began its path of destruction just southwest of Rolling Fork before continuing northeast into the rural communities of Midnight and Silver City and toward Tchula, Black Hawk, and Winona.
In Rolling Fork, the birthplace of Mississippi Delta blues musician Muddy Waters, Meg Cooper, A coordinator for the Lower Delta Partnership, a nonprofit cultural programming and business group in the region, said Saturday that the damage was «extensive and devastating.»
“This tornado ripped a wide path that destroyed homes and most of our businesses,” he said, adding that the damage to cultural monuments, including a site marking Waters’ birthplace, was not yet clear.
Holding a donated hamburger on the front porch of her damaged RV in the city, in a separate interview, Velma Warren said she had never seen anything like the tornado.
“I thought we were dead,” said Warren, 62, adding that she had taken refuge in a closet with her two young grandchildren.
While her home had two broken windows, the damage was relatively minor compared to other nearby properties that had been flattened by trees and blown open by the wind.
“I don’t care if I don’t have shoes or a hat, I’m going to church in the morning,” he said.
bracey harris, denis romero and Associated Press contributed.