An emergency declaration was issued Sunday morning for Mississippi releasing federal funding to Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties, 48-hours after a tornado ripped through the Mississippi Delta.
It was the deadliest weather event to smash one of the poorest regions of the U.S. in more than a decade.
AP reports 25 people were confirmed killed and dozens of others were injured across the South as the massive storm ripped through several towns on its hour-long path.
At least 10 tornadoes were confirmed to have devastated the area, according to several National Weather Service offices.
One man was killed after his trailer home flipped several times in Alabama.
Aerial view of a destroyed neighborhood in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, after a tornado touched down in the area March 25, 2023. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Wonder Bolden cradles her year-old granddaughter Journey Bolden as she surveys the remains of her mother’s tornado demolished mobile home in Rolling Fork, Miss., Saturday, March 25, 2023. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator (FEMA) Deanne Criswell was scheduled to visit the state on Sunday to evaluate the destruction, AP reports, as FEMA Coordinating Officer John Boyle began to oversee federal recovery operations.
Following President Joe Biden’s emergency declaration, federal funding can be used for recovery efforts including temporary housing, home repairs, loans covering uninsured property losses and other individual and business programs, the White House said in a statement.
Even with recovery just starting, the National Weather Service warned of additional storms – capable of producing very large hail, tornadoes and fierce winds – are expected to form across portions of eastern Texas on Sunday afternoon then likely to push into Louisiana, Mississippi, and eventually Alabama, through the afternoon and evening.
Community members work to distribute water after damage from a series of powerful storms and at least one tornado on March 25, 2023 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. (Will Newton/Getty Images)
A Level 3 out of 5 risk for severe storms has been issued by the Storm Prediction Center across portions of eastern Louisiana, south-central Mississippi and south-central Alabama.
The threatened area includes Jackson, Hattiesburg and Meridian in Mississippi, as well as Montgomery and Prattville in Alabama.
“Large hail to very large hail should be the main threat with any supercells,” the center predicted. “Damaging winds and a few tornadoes also appear possible.”