Deadly Tornado Sweep’s the South
This is a single photo that displays such damage. Debris and wood are scattered, houses are demolished, and furniture is sprawled everywhere.
Rolling Fork, Mississippi, was the primary town attacked by an EF-4 tornado. EF stands for the Enhanced Fujita Scale rates the category of a tornado based on its wind speeds and overall damage. According to the National Weather Service, the EF-4 indicates three-second gusts of 166-200 mph. The storm was so powerful that it killed 26 people and injured several more. Twenty-five were killed in the state of Mississippi and one in the form of Alabama.
It started Friday night; several storms swept through Mississippi and Alabama. The devastation was horrific. An entire town was wiped out, and a small population suffered from such destruction. These people’s homes, budlings, and history had virtually vanished by Saturday morning.
According to BBC News, many residents described it as a “wedge tornado.” The National Weather Service considers wedge tornados to be extremely rare and only seen in EF-4 and EF-5 storms. A wedge tornado is wider from the ground up in the distance.
Of course, people did not have much time to prepare. According to BBC News, the residents of Rolling Fork were only notified of the tornado 20 minutes before it hit the small town.
Thankfully, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has crews assisting residents, trying to build back what has been lost.
Unfortunately, the nightmare is not over yet. Parts of the South still anticipate more severe weather. The targeted areas will be Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Again, the storms look nocturnal, following a similar pattern to the recent one.
Nevertheless, the people of the South remain strong and are doing everything they can to aid each other in a time of need.
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