U.S. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Mississippi on Sunday after powerful storms tore across the state late on Friday, killing at least 25 people there and one in Alabama.
At least 12 tornadoes have hit Mississippi and Alabama since Friday night, the National Weather Service said.
The tornado stayed on the ground for about an hour and cut a path of destruction some 274 kilometers long, according to Nicholas Price, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, Mississippi.
Aerial shot shows damage from a series of powerful storms and at least one tornado in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, March 25, 2023. /CFP
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves issued a State of Emergency and vowed to help rebuild as he headed to view the damage in an area speckled with wide expanses of cotton, corn and soybean fields and catfish farming ponds. Biden also promised federal help, describing the damage as "heartbreaking."
(Cover: A fallen pine tree is seen at this house on Brown Street in Amory Mississippi, March 25, 2023. /CFP)
(With input from agencies)