Authorities believe at least two dozen people were killed by tornadoes that tore paths of destruction through Mississippi and Alabama late Friday, but the extent of the damage wasn’t unveiled until first light, which helped determine how widespread the disaster was.
More than 25 million Americans were under the threat for tornadoes, but it was the small towns such as Rolling Fork and Silver City in western Mississippi that took a direct hit.
“Every structure in town has pretty much sustained some type of damage if not total destruction,” said Brett Adair, a storm tracker and field meteorologist.
Storm chasers were some of the first people on the scene after the tornadoes rumbled through and helped people who appeared helpless look for loved ones trapped by storm debris.
“As we were doing our interview, we’re rolling the windows down but the only thing that you can do is listen for the scream,” Adair said. “What we were doing was we were hearing people literally in the neighborhood on Jackson Avenue and U.S. 49 that were screaming at us for help. And I just had to drop the interview and drop everything inappropriate. At that point, we just go into first response mode.”
CATASTROPHIC MISSISSIPPI TORNADOES LEAVE AT LEAST 23 DEAD AMID OVER 100-MILE PATH OF DESTRUCTION