The town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, suffered the region's greatest losses from recent devastating tornadoes, partly due to the poor living standards in the majority-Black community, once again reminding people of the long-standing environmental racism in the United States. Mississippi experiences about 30 to 100 tornadoes each year, so the devastation raises questions about environmental racism regarding the extent to which the damage compares with majority-White communities.

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures for Rolling Fork, which has a population of roughly 2,000, more than 80 percent of the residents are Black and about 21 percent live below the poverty line – a rate higher than the state average.

Census data also shows that around 30 percent of Rolling Fork residents live in mobile homes, which are significantly more vulnerable to tornado damage.