A father and his little girl were among at least 20 people killed when a tornado and damaging storms swept through Mississippi Friday night, officials said.
Monroe County Coroner Alan Gurley told NBC News that the man and his daughter died in a house where they were sheltering with his wife and two other children.
Gurley said that their bodies were found at the property in Wren, a large unincorporated community around 180 miles north of Jackson. The man’s wife and two other children were taken to hospital, he added.
Elsewhere, Sharkey County Coroner Angelia Eason said there were 13 weather-related deaths in Rolling Fork, a small town with a population of about 1,800 people around 60 miles northwest of Jackson.
“The damage is tremendous,” she said. “It’s awful.”
The coroner’s office in Carroll County also confirmed that three people were found dead in destroyed house, while in Humphreys County, Coroner Samuel Irving said two men had died as a result of a tornado in Silver City, a community of around 220 about 30 miles east of Rolling Fork.
None of the victims have been named.
“It appears from the damage that I’ve been able to assess at this point, it was a large tornado — and it has destroyed the city of Rolling Fork,” Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker told NBC affiliate WLBT of Jackson by phone, adding that the damage was extenstive.
Searches for trapped people were also reported in Silver City,
The National Weather Service warned of a confirmed tornado on the ground headed towards Rolling Fork around 8:05 p.m.
A “tornado emergency,” a term used when there is a severe threat to life and reliable sources have confirmed a tornado, had been issued for it and other areas, the NWS said.
In an earlier alert that didn’t mince words the NWS said: “To protect your life, TAKE COVER NOW!”
“You are in a life-threatening situation,” it added. “Flying debris may be deadly to those caught without shelter. Mobile homes will be destroyed….
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