Mississippi tornado killed 26 people

Powerful tornadoes in Mississippi destroyed dozens of buildings and left a particularly devastating footprint in the city of Rolling Fork, whose mayor declared, “Our city is literally gone.”

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said on Twitter that search and rescue teams and additional ambulance crews had been deployed to assist tornado victims. The agency confirmed in the early morning hours of March 26 that 26 people were killed, four were missing and dozens were injured. The agency warns that the death toll could rise.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said he was on his way to Sharkey County, where the town of Rolling Fork is located, “As you know, there’s been total damage to the town. This is a great tragedy,” the governor wrote on his Twitter.

The U.S. National Weather Service confirmed that the tornadoes were particularly destructive about 100 miles northeast of Jackson, Mississippi, where they exceeded 110 miles per hour.

The small town of Silver City, like Rolling Fork, reported severe damage, and Wynona and Amory were also affected, before the tornado continued eastward toward Alabama.

You may be interested: Speaker McCarthy expects Congress to approve bill to ban TikTok