New storm system in spring 2023 with violent tornadoes killed at least 32 people in the south and midwest
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At least 32 people have died and dozens of people have been injured on Friday and Saturday, after a storm system with multiple tornadoes swept across the American Midwest and South.
According to BBC´s latest update on Monday April 3, the death toll has been growing since the weekend, and there have been more than 80 reported tornadoes since 31 March, referencing the National Weather Service.
This weekend's severe weather hits the US just one week after 26 people died in Mississippi, also as a result of a storm with multiple tornadoes.
Over 50 suspected tornadoes were registered in at least seven states in the American Midwest and South on Friday, according to CNN.
The storm leveled entire communities and by lunchtime on Saturday, over 530,000 homes and businesses were still without power.
In the small town of Wynne in Arkansas, about eight miles from Memphis in Tennessee, at least four deaths have been reported.
One of the hardest-hit areas was McNairy County in Tennessee, where seven people died.
In the city of Belvidere in Illinois, One man died and 40 people were injured, two of them seriously when a tornado struck and tore parts of the roof off a concert hall. 260 people were in the building on Friday night where a hard rock concert was taking place.
In addition to Arkansas, Tennessee, and Illinois, the storm also claimed lives in the state of Indiana.
The storm system also caused forest fires and several structure fires. In Oklahoma, at least 32 people were injured and more than 40 homes were destroyed in over 100 reported fires.
This weekend's severe weather hits the US just one week after 26 people died in Mississippi, also as a result of a storm with multiple tornadoes.
Original post from March 27:
At least 26 people have died in connection with a severe storm where several tornadoes moved across the US state of Mississippi. The state is entering a state of emergency and national crisis teams are being sent to affected areas, the governor said.
The Mississippi storm reached full strength on Friday (March 25) night local time, in the Mississippi Delta, which one of the poorest regions of the U.S.
BBC News writes that the storm system, which ripped through Mississippi over the weekend, produced a tornado that has caused catastrophic damage to communities across the state. The biggest twister obliterated dozens of buildings in several small towns, flipping cars on their sides and toppling power lines.
The small town of Rolling Fork, located in Sharkey County in western Mississippi, has essentially been wiped out, according to its mayor.
The unusually powerful tornado in Mississippi has left storm chasers and meteorologists in shock at the devastation it caused.
U.S. President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi on early Sunday, making federal funding available to Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties, which were the areas hardest hit as of Friday night.
The number of injured is still not clear, however initial estimates counts dozens, according to local authorities. On Saturday, state governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency Mississippi after the deadly storms, according to CNN.
"The losses will be felt in these communities forever," Tate Reeves wrote on Twitter.
FEMA along with rescue personnel from nearby cities have been called to the affected areas. The search for missing persons among the rubble of destroyed buildings began Sunday.
The hardest hit communities are the small towns of Silver City and Rolling Fork, northwest of the city of Jackson in Mississippi One person is reported to have also died in Alabama.
In addition to direct damage, the wind has also torn down power lines with extensive power outages as a result. During the weekend, over 80,000 households were left without electricity, according to CNN.
Mobile homes were swept away by the wind
Roger Cummings, who lives in Silver City, tells American CBS that all the mobile homes where many of the community's residents lived in have literally been blown away.
Brandy Showah, who lives in Rolling Fork, describes the community as basically levelled with the ground.
-"This was a wonderful little town. Now it's gone", she tells CNN.
Eleven tornadoes in one day
According to the Storm Prediction Centre, which is part of the US weather agency NOAA, a total of eleven tornadoes have been reported in the region in 24 hours.
The strong winds have also caused problems in neighboring Alabama and Tennessee, where close to 50,000 households were without electricity during the night, according to CNN.
Hundreds of tornadoes in 2023
There has been several powerful tornadoes in the world in 2023. According to Wikipedia, January saw the third-highest number of tornado watches and confirmed tornadoes of any January on record in the United States.
There have been 296 preliminary filtered reported tornadoes and 235 confirmed tornadoes in the United States in 2023. Worldwide, 33 tornado-related deaths have been confirmed, 32 of them in the United States and one in Saudi Arabia.
Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Eastern India, but can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions.
Cover photo (Above)
The U.S. National Archives From a an earlier Mississippi storm in 2005.
Scene Camera Operator: SMSGT David H. Lipp, USAF
Release Status: Released to Public> Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files
Date
13/09/2005
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