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- A mile-wide tornado blew through the small town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, ripping a trail of destruction across the state on Friday night.
- Houses were completely destroyed, cars were overturned like discarded toys, and a massive storm swept through the countryside.
- Weather forecasters warned of destructive storms involving eastern Arkansas, northeastern Louisiana, central and northern Mississippi, and western Tennessee
The state of Mississippi bore the brunt of a ferocious storm that hit the South Friday night, when a miles-wide tornado landed in the small town of Rolling Fork, trapping people in a path of destruction.
Weather forecasters warned some residents of the Midwest and South on Friday that dangerously strong winds will pass through the region, potentially damaging EF2 tornadoes with winds up to 135 mph. was
Shortly after 9pm on Friday night, my worst fears came true. One storm chaser tweeted that help was urgently needed in the area after a massive storm trapped people inside collapsed homes and businesses.
“Rolling Forks, Mississippi is seriously damaged. People are trapped. Need help here,” Zachary Hall tweeted.
He later tweeted how police underscored the urgency of the situation and begged him to pass on the message.
A reporter on the scene recounted how several people were rushed to the hospital after the storm destroyed homes and crushed businesses.
Other storm chasers in the region captured the storm’s violent nature with lightning bolts and power flashes threatening the sky as it passed over Anguilla, Mississippi.
In nearby Silver City, Mississippi, damage was said to be “everywhere” after a small village of 300 people was hit hard.
More than 30 million people lay in the path of the storm, and two people have already drowned after cars were washed away Friday in Missouri and passengers were still inside.
Golf-ball-sized hailstones from the Supercell storm have also seen heavy rains leading to flooding.
The drowning occurred shortly after midnight in a sparsely populated area of southwestern Missouri.
Authorities said six youths were in a car that was swept away while trying to cross a bridge over a flooded creek in the town of Grove Springs.
4 out of 6 came out of the water. The body of Devon Holt, 20, of Grove Spring was found at 3:30 am, and the body of Alexander Roman Laneri, 19, of Springfield was found about six hours later. Thomas Young said.
The driver told officials the rain had made it difficult to see the water from the creek covering the bridge.
On Friday, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center warned of more severe weather to come.
“Possibility of severe weather in the Lower Mississippi and Mid-South this afternoon and tonight,” wrote the NWS.
A tornado warning was in effect for eastern Arkansas, northeastern Louisiana, central and northern Mississippi, and western Tennessee (including Little Rock and Memphis) through midnight Friday.
The NWS warned that “several large tornadoes” were likely.
The Storm Prediction Center predicts that several powerful tornadoes will form, rated at least EF2 on a scale of 0 to 5 in intensity, and likely to remain on the ground for long distances.
The storm system has been fueled by a jet stream swoop that passed through California on Tuesday and Wednesday, creating tornadoes, including the first tornadoes to hit the downtown Los Angeles area since 1953.
Meanwhile, in another county in southwestern Missouri, the search continues for a woman who went missing after her car was washed off the road by a flash flood from a small river.
The victim’s dog was unharmed, but the woman was missing, according to the Logan Rogersville Fire Department. Two other people in the car were rescued. The crew used boats and planned for the search party to walk along the riverbank.
Some areas of southern Missouri received about 3 inches of rain Thursday night through Friday morning, while other areas experienced severe weather.
A suspected tornado made landfall in northern Texas early Friday morning as an unstable storm system threatens to create tornadoes in several southern states.
Severe weather is expected in several states, said Matt Elliott, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
“We’re talking about some tornadoes, some of them powerful and intense,” Elliot said.
The Storm Prediction Center warned parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee would face the greatest tornado threat on Friday afternoon and evening.
A storm with winds and hail was expected from eastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma to parts of southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois.
“Now is the time to start checking the batteries in your weather radio and make sure you have more than one way to receive weather warnings, but also if a storm begins to approach your area and a warning is issued. Get yourself and your family to a safe place,” Elliot said.
Louisiana Governor John Bell Edwards warned that tornadoes could reach the state overnight and urged residents to prepare for severe weather, including wind and hail damage.
Severe nighttime weather increases the risk of personal vulnerability, as residents are less likely to be warned because they are asleep and tornadoes are harder to spot, according to the National Weather Service.
In Texas, a suspected tornado around 5 a.m. in the southwest corner of Wise County damaged homes, knocked down trees and power lines, said Cody Powell, the county’s emergency management coordinator. says. Powell said there were no reports of injuries.
The Bureau of Meteorology did not confirm a tornado, but nearby Parker County also reported damage to homes, said meteorologist Matt Staley. Investigators are likely to be in the area later on Friday to make that determination.
The two areas are about 10 miles apart at the western edge of the Dallas and Fort Worth metroplexes, and the storm system is expected to move east of the area by the rest of Friday, Staley said.
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