Monday, April 26, 2010

Hundreds of Mississippi homes damaged

Jim Skillington in Disaster News Network: Food and shelter are being provided as survivors pick up the pieces of their lives following the strongest wave of tornadoes to hit the U.S. in two years. The damage in Mississippi was so severe that Gov. Haley Barbour compared it to Hurricane Katrina.

The severe weather outbreak began Friday night, with the most significant damage reported in MS Saturday afternoon where at least 12 people were killed. Hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed. At least 10 people were killed in MS alone, with storm damage reported from Louisiana.

Yazoo City, in Yazoo County, was particularly hard hit and garnered the most national media attention, but 16 other counties also tallied damage. Approximately 60 percent of the congregation of Millsprings Baptist Church in Choctaw County lost their homes. Just one wall of the church was still standing Sunday.

Volunteers from Presbyterian Churches in the region worked into the evening Sunday covering damaged homes with tarps and using chainsaws to clear access to others. United Methodists also reported volunteers had been active in the region. The Salvation Army deployed mobile feeding units and a communications trailer in Yazoo County and is exploring other locations….

Generic tornado shot, from NOAA. This storm was in Oklahoma in 1981

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