Destructive tornado hits parts of Mississippi
A tornado hit parts of Mississippi on Friday, causing significant damage to at least one community and trapping people in buildings, officials said.
No deaths were immediately reported. There was damage in Rolling Fork, which has a population of 1,800, and Silver City, a community of about 220, officials said.
“It appears from the damage I have been able to assess at this point that this was a large tornado – and it destroyed the town of Rolling Fork,” Mayor Eldridge Walker said. to Jackson’s NBC affiliate WLBT by phone.
The National Weather Service warned of a confirmed ground-based tornado heading towards Rolling Fork around 8:05 p.m.
A “tornado emergency”, a term used when there is a serious threat to life and reliable sources have confirmed a tornado, had been issued for this and other areas.
The Weather Service later said there was tornado damage in Rolling Fork, 60 miles northwest of Jackson, and Silver City, northeast of Rolling Fork.
In the Silver City area, all Humphreys County Sheriff’s Deputies were responding and prison staff were tasked with assisting with the dispatch and requesting assistance.
“We are in desperate need of search and rescue assistance,” Randy Taylor, a corrections officer with the sheriff’s office, told WLBT. “People are trapped.”
The state was sending search and rescue resources and other aid to the area, said Malary White, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also been alerted and is monitoring the situation, she said.
“Many in MS Delta need your prayers and God’s protection tonight,” Governor Tate Reeves said. tweeted.
He said the state has activated medical support and dispatched ambulances to where needed.
A tornado emergency is a term used when there is a severe threat to life, catastrophic damage and when reliable sources have confirmed a tornado, according to the weather service. It began to be used in 1999 when a tornado was heading into Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The tornado in Mississippi came as highly buoyant air and strong shear at low and high altitudes were expected to increase the risk of severe storms in the region, according to the weather service.
Most of Mississippi and parts of northern Alabama and central Tennessee were under tornado watch Friday night.
Earlier Friday in Texas, two EF1 tornadoes with 100 mph winds hit Parker County, west of Fort Worth, around 5 a.m. on weather service says. Five people were injured, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reported.
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