In Mississippi, the passage of a powerful tornado, coupled with repeated thunderstorms, left the landscape devastated. Rescuers are still looking for victims but 23 bodies have already been found, the governor of this southern state of the United States said on Saturday.
“We know that many more (people) are injured. Search and rescue teams are still active”Governor Tate Reeves said on Twitter.
The Mississippi State Emergency Services (MSEMA) further noted on Twitter: “unfortunately, these numbers are expected to change” on the rise.
In Rolling Fork, a small town of 2,000 inhabitants, images Saturday morning showed entire rows of houses torn from their meager foundations, streets littered with debris and cars turned over on their roofs.
Trees were uprooted and pieces of metal wrapped around the trunks while for one house, still standing but wobbly, the floor collapsed.
“My town no longer exists”said the mayor of the commune, Eldridge Walker.
According to the city councilor, several victims were located and removed from the debris of their homes, to be taken to hospitals and treated.
“Houses that have been torn away can be replaced, but you cannot replace a life”said Edlridge Walker.
Rolling Fork resident Shanta Howard told local channel WAPT, “I thought I was dead” following the tornado hit. We had to help get dead bodies “out of houses,” she said.
According to ABC, at least 13 people died in Sharkey County, along with three in neighboring Carroll County and two others in Monroe County.
“We heard a noise, as if it was a train, for 45 seconds to a minute; then it was over”said regarding the tornado Woodrow Johnson, a local Humphrey County official.
Tornado warnings had been issued as early as Friday in several counties in Mississippi. They were lifted in the morning. But new showers accompanied by thunderstorms were still expected.
