Mississippi is reeling from deadly tornadoes | Weather News
Mississippi residents began cleanup operations on Sunday after a destructive tornado tore through the state, killing at least 26 people and destroying homes and largely wiping out the small town of Rolling Fork.
US President Joe Biden declared an emergency and ordered federal aid to Mississippi Sunday morning to support recovery efforts.
With at least 26 dead in Mississippi, the tornadoes that tore through parts of the Deep South overnight were the state’s deadliest in more than a decade, according to National Weather Service (NWS) records.
By comparison, 31 people died in Mississippi in April 2011 when tornadoes ripped through several states, mostly in the southeastern United States, NWS meteorologist Chris Outler said Saturday. Alabama was the hardest hit in this so-called “super outbreak” of hundreds of tornadoes that killed more than 320 people and caused damage estimated at $12 billion.
Just a month later, another deadly tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people. Outler called 2011 “the landmark year for tornadoes in the past 20 years or so”.
The Morgan County, Alabama Sheriff’s Office reported one storm-related death on Saturday, bringing the overall overnight storm total to at least 26.
