A powerful tornado on Friday night tore through rural Mississippi and Alabama, killing at least seven people, destroying buildings and knocking out power as severe weather that produced hail the size of golf balls moved through several southern states and prompted authorities to warn some in its path that they were in a “life-threatening situation.”
The US National Weather Service confirmed a tornado caused damage about 96km northeast of Jackson, Mississippi. The rural towns of Silver City and Rolling Fork were reporting destruction as the tornado continued sweeping northeast at 113kph without weakening, racing towards Alabama through towns including Winona and Amory into the night.
At least seven people were killed by the tornado in Mississippi, Sharkey County Coroner Angelia Easton told ABC News.
Photo: Layton Hoyer via AP
Rolling Fork is located in Sharkey County.
The National Weather Service issued an alert as the storm was hitting that did not mince words: “To protect your life, TAKE COVER NOW!”
“You are in a life-threatening situation,” it said. “Flying debris may be deadly to those caught without shelter. Mobile homes will be destroyed. Considerable damage to homes, businesses and vehicles is likely, and complete destruction is possible.”
Cornel Knight said that he, his wife and their three-year-old daughter were at a relative’s home in Rolling Fork when the tornado struck.
He said the sky was dark, but “you could see the direction from every transformer that blew.”
It was “eerily quiet” as that happened, he said, adding that the tornado struck another relative’s home across a wide corn field from where he was.
A wall in that home collapsed and trapped several people inside, he said.
This was a supercell, the nasty type of storms that brew the deadliest tornado and most damaging hail in the US, University of Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Walker Ashley said.
It was also a nighttime, wet tornado, which is “the worst kind,” he said.
Meteorologists saw a big tornado risk coming for the general region, not the specific area, as much as a week in advance, said Ashley, who was discussing it with his colleagues as early as March 17.
Tornado experts such as Ashley have been warning about increased risk exposure in the region because of people building more.
“You mix a particularly socioeconomically vulnerable landscape with a fast-moving, long-track nocturnal tornado, and, disaster will happen,” Ashley said in an e-mail.
Earlier on Friday, a vehicle was swept away and two passengers drowned in southwestern Missouri during torrential rains that were part of a severe weather system that brought nearly 8cm of rain to the state on Thursday and Friday.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warning coordination meteorologist Matt Elliott said the severe weather was expected across several states.
The Storm Prediction Center said that the greatest threat of tornadoes would come in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Storms with damaging winds and hail were forecast from eastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma into parts of southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois.
More than 49,000 customers had lost power in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee as of Friday night, poweroutage.us showed.
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