And we know that we’re going to have to bring the full force of the federal family in there to come help them,' Criswell said. 'In some of these communities, they are certainly some of the poorest communities in the state. 'That is the mission.'Ĭriswell said that while tornado warnings were activated and sirens in some towns alerted residents of the coming disaster, not everyone received or heeded the alerts. Respond, Recover, Rebuild together,' he said on Twitter. Tate Reeves, who submitted the disaster declaration, said on Saturday that the 'scale of the damage and loss is evident everywhere affected today.' The tornado also caused a large horse trailer to roll about 80 yards and picked up several cars and slammed them to the ground, officials said. The tornado damaged the roofs of several homes and businesses, snapped trees and power poles, destroyed a large shed and ripped the reinforced roof off of the horse stalls at the local fairgrounds. The tornadoes that hit Mississippi were among 10 twisters that developed on Friday, including a pair of EF-2 funnel clouds in Alabama that killed a person in Hartselle in Morgan County.Īnother EF-2 twister hit near Fayetteville, Tennessee, and churned on the ground for four miles in just six minutes, officials said. Several other residents remain in critical condition, the coroner said.

In Silver City, where an EF-4 tornado hit Friday night, a 2-year-old girl is one of the three residents there who were killed, her family and the Humphreys County coroner told ABC News on Sunday.

The half-mile-wide twister, preliminarily ranked an EF-3 by the National Weather Service, created winds as high as 155 mph and was on the ground for more 25 minutes.Īt least four other tornadoes, all measuring EF-1 and packing winds of 90 to 110 mph, also touched down in Mississippi. 'I'll be OK.'Ī separate Mississippi tornado cut a 28.6-mile path of destruction through Carroll and Montgomery counties, killing three people and causing extensive damage in the town of Blackhawk and Winona. 'This can all be replaced,' he said of his home. Macon said he is just thankful to be alive. Macon told ABC News that during the tornado he was shielded from flying debris by a carpet that came out of nowhere and landed on him. Rolling Rock resident Erwin Macon stood outside his completely decimated home with just a suitcase that he said held all the possessions he has left. Walker is also the town's funeral director and said some of the 20 people killed in the tornado that struck his town were friends. And now we've got to put the pieces back together again,” Walker said on ABC's 'Good Morning America.'

The severe tornado that tore through Rolling Fork, Mississippi, late Friday was assigned a rating of EF-4, a classification that marks it as a rare and powerful storm And then, second, that we start to take care of these families,' FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, told ABC's 'This Week' co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday.Ĭriswell said she will travel on Sunday to the Mississippi towns devastated by the tornadoes 'to be able to see firsthand the impacts that some of these communities have had.' 'The biggest priority for me is, one, making sure that the local jurisdictions, those first responders, have all of the resources that they need. Federal funds will be available to government, tribal and other agencies in Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties, the White House said in a statement. As the severe weather continued in the South from the early spring storm that began in California, where it spawned twisters near Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, towns in rural Mississippi were starting the clean up from the swarm of tornadoes on Friday.īiden approved disaster relief for Mississippi on Sunday, making funding available to those impacted by the storm devastation.

Columbus ga weather weekly alarm siren