US President orders aid to Mississippi after tornado killed 23

The United States President, Joe Biden, ordered federal aid to the state of Mississippi to support local recovery efforts in areas affected by a devastating tornado, the White House said on Sunday.

The federal funding includes grants for temporary housing, home repairs and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses.

At least 23 people were killed as a devastating tornado ripped across the southern US state of Mississippi, tearing off roofs, smashing cars and flattening entire neighborhoods.

The state’s emergency management agency said Saturday that at least four people were missing and dozens were injured, while tens of thousands of people in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee were without power.

The powerful storm system that generated the tornado, accompanied by thunderstorms and driving rain, cut a long path across the state late Friday, slamming several towns along the way.

In the town of Rolling Fork, home to less than 2,000 people, an entire row of houses and buildings was demolished, leaving only scattered debris. Cars were overturned, fences were ripped up and trees uprooted, television footage showed.

“My city is gone,” Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker told CNN.  “Devastation – as I look from left to right, that’s all I see.”

Patricia Perkins, who works at a hardware store in the town, told AFP that “most everything is wiped away.”

Resident Shanta Howard told ABC affiliate WAPT that locals had to help remove the dead from the wreckage of their homes.

“It was like no notice. We didn’t know what was happening,” a tearful Tracy Harden, the owner of Chuck’s Dairy Bar in Rolling Fork, told CNN.

Search and rescue operations were also underway in Sharkey and Humphreys counties, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of the state capital Jackson.

The emergency management agency put the latest death toll at 23 but cautioned that it could rise.

“The loss will be felt in these towns forever,” state Governor Tate Reeves said on Twitter. “Please pray for God’s hand to be over all who lost family and friends.”