Situation Awareness: Monday, March 27, 2023 Mississippi Tornadoe.

 Devastating storms and at least one large tornado (photo below) ripped through rural Mississippi on Friday night leaving at least 26 people dead, dozens injured and first responders racing against time to rescue people from the rubble.   The tornado’s death toll now ranks as the highest in Mississippi this century and the worst in over 50 years. 

As you can see from the image below, the tornado landed in Rolling Fork, MS around 8:00pm CT Friday night and then remained on the ground for an hour cutting a path of devastation 100 miles long and a mile wide, and lofting debris 30,000 feet into the air.  

In addition to Rolling Fork, the towns of Silver City, Black Hawk, Winona, and Amory suffered extensive damage.  Along this terrible track, few buildings remained unaffected, many are completely demolished.  In addition, many other homes and structures will require extensive repairs.  

An aerial view of destroyed homes in Rolling Fork, Miss., on Saturday. (Cheney Orr/Reuters)

Rolling Fork, as seen in the above photo, has a majority African American population of about 2,000 people, with approximately 20% of residents living below the poverty line and 21% living in mobile homes, making them especially vulnerable to extreme weather. As you can see from the Census summaries below, the other affected towns in the Mississippi Delta are similarly situated. In the words of the mayor of Rolling Fork, Eldridge Walker, “Families are affected, homes are torn up, families are without a place to live, children are hungry this morning, no clothes.”

Click the image below for video of the destruction the tornado wrought in Amory, MS.

Thanks to early warnings from the National Weather Service we were ready for these tornadoes—as the Washington Post reported: 

	Live updates: Tornadoes kill 26 across Mississippi, Alabama; state of emergency issued The Mississippi towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City were significantly affected, while deaths and serious damage have been reported in the state. www.washingtonpost.com

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