DrThe death toll from the devastating hurricane in the southern United States has risen to at least 26. According to the Civil Protection, 25 people have been killed and dozens injured in the poorest US state than Mississippi alone, and according to media reports, at least one person has died in neighboring Alabama. The head of the National Civil Protection Agency FEMA, Dean Creswell, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wanted to visit the affected area on Sunday. The meteorological service warned of more violent storms.
At least one tornado ripped through Mississippi on Friday evening (local time), and several storms raged in the region. The tornado wreaked havoc on Silver City and Rolling Fork in particular. Roofs were swept away, trees uprooted and power lines damaged. Some parts of the city were almost razed to the ground. US President Joe Biden, in response to the „heartbreaking” images from Mississippi, promised: „We will do everything we can to help.”
The hurricane made landfall in Rolling Fork at about 8 p.m. Friday, Lance Perillo of the National Weather Service told National Public Radio (NPR). Then he left a path of destruction over 270 kilometers in a good hour. „This is one of the rarest tornadoes we’ve seen in Mississippi history based on longevity and strength over a period of time,” Perillo said. At least another, weaker tornado may have hit the state, but this has yet to be confirmed.
„total destruction”
On Sunday, the Meteorological Service warned of severe thunderstorms accompanied by hailstones that could reach the size of chicken eggs. Tornadoes and other wind gusts of more than 110 kilometers per hour are also possible. Meteorologists assume that the storms will only weaken in the evening and that scattered showers are likely to follow.
Mississippi is considered the poorest state in the United States of America, which is why such disasters especially strike people there. Reconstruction can take many years. About 2,000 people live in the small, almost completely destroyed town of Rolling Fork – many in converted caravans. A large part of the population lives below the poverty line in the country.
„My city is gone. We’re going to hold on and we’ll be back,” the city’s mayor, Eldridge Walker, said on US television on Saturday. When the storm warning came, he and his wife took refuge in the bathtub in their home. Now his city presents a picture of „total devastation.”
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