Search and rescue teams comb through the destruction looking for survivors after the storm struck Silver City
\n Mississippi
\nAt least 23 people were killed and dozens injured as a tornado and strong thunderstorms ripped across Mississippi late on Friday, the state\u2019s emergency management agency said.
\nFour people were missing as search and rescue teams combed through the destruction looking for survivors after the storm struck Silver City, a town of 200 people in western Mississippi, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said in a series of tweets.
\n\u201cUnfortunately, these numbers are expected to change,\u201d it said, referring to the death toll.
\nMississippi Governor Tate Reeves confirmed the death toll.
\n\u201cWe know that many more are injured,\u201d Reeves wrote on Twitter. \u201cSearch and rescue teams are still active. The loss will be felt in these towns forever.\u201d
\nSearch and rescue teams were also out in Rolling Fork, a town of 1,700 people that bore the brunt of the tornado, CNN reported.
\n\u201cMy city is gone, but we are resilient,\u201d Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker said on CNN. \u201cWe are going to come back strong.\u201d According to Walker, 12 of the people who died were in Rolling Fork. He added that several people were trapped in their homes. \u201cRescue efforts are happening as we speak, they resumed early this morning.\u201d The twister left a trail of damage for more than 100 miles (160 km). Television images showed uprooted trees, houses ripped apart and damaged motor vehicles. Many areas were without electricity.
\n\u201cWe tried to get ourselves into the middle part of the house and we did, we got in there and obviously it was coming right behind us because as soon as we got in there, we heard a big boom and didn\u2019t hear anything else for a little while,\u201d an unidentified resident of Winona told ABC News affiliate WTVA. \u201cSo we walked out and then just came out to about 10 trees down in our yard.\u201d A Rolling Fork resident, Brandy Showah, also told CNN that the town was gone. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d she said, adding that her grandmother\u2019s house suffered damage.
\n\u201cMy friend was trapped in her home a few houses down, but we got her out,\u201d Showah said, adding that people who lived next to her grandmother were still trapped in their houses.
\nTodd Terrell, who heads a volunteer rescuers group called United Cajun Navy, told ABC News that Rolling Fork was \u201cpretty much devastated\u201d and many people remained trapped in their homes.
\nTerrell compared the destruction to a tornado in Joplin, Missouri, that killed 161 people in 2011. At least 24 reports of tornadoes were issued to the National Weather Service on Friday night and into Saturday morning by storm chasers and observers. The reports stretched from the western edge of Mississippi north through the centre of the state and into Alabama.
\nPhotographs of the destruction published by news networks showed entire buildings left in rubble and cars turned over on their sides as people climbed through the debris in darkness.
\n\u201cMany in the MS Delta need your prayer and God\u2019s protection tonight,\u201d the governor, Reeves, said in a tweet. \u201cWe have activated medical support – surging more ambulances and other emergency assets for those affected.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Search and rescue teams comb through the destruction looking for survivors after the storm struck Silver City Mississippi At least 23 people were killed and dozens injured as a tornado and strong thunderstorms ripped across Mississippi late on Friday, the state\u2019s emergency management agency said. Four people were missing as search and rescue teams combed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-321788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n