Biden declares emergency for Mississippi after destructive tornado

A powerful tornado accompanied by thunderstorms swept across Mississippi and Alabama in the United States late Friday, killing at least 25 in Mississippi and one in Alabama, reported the Associated Press.

Hundreds were left homeless after the tornado carved a path of destruction for more than an hour, injuring dozens, and flattening entire blocks.

In the Mississippi Delta town of Rolling Fork, the tornado toppled a water tower. Residents hunkered down in bathtubs and hallways during Friday night’s storm and later broke into a John Deere store that they converted into a triage center for the wounded.

US President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Mississippi on Sunday in wake of the tornado.

Biden ordered federal aid to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in the affected areas, a White House Statement said. The funding will be available to affected people in the counties of Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe, and Sharkey, the statement said.

Other parts of the Deep South were digging out from the damage caused by other suspected twisters. One man died in Morgan County, Alabama, the sheriff’s department there said in a tweet.

The tornado stayed on the ground for about an hour and cut a path of destruction some 170 miles (274 km) long, according to Nicholas Price, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, Mississippi, told Reuters.