Multiple tornadoes flattened homes, flipped trucks and bent telephone poles through a wide stretch of Mississippi and Alabama on Monday. The previous day, half-mile-wide tornado caused enormous destruction through the suburbs of Little Rock, Arkansas in the Southern region of the United States, killing at least 15 people. Severe storms also led to the death of one person each in Oklahoma and Iowa.
A huge tornado frayed the Tupelo area at 2:45 p.m. on Moday causing widespread damage and injuries on the north side of town. According to local media, the tornado reached the western parts of the town near the Tupelo Airport and tracked northeast toward the Tupelo mall.
Two more twisters at around 4:30 p.m. in Monroe County near Louisville injured at least 45 people. Another was reported from Jackson at around 6:35 local time. Heavy damage has been reported from Richland and Brandon.
Death and Destruction
People were clustered in hallways and basements and people in Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky had to battle the storms without any electricity. Though, Kentucky escaped the wrath of tornadoes it was slammed with severe storms.
The emergency warning issued by the National Weather Service on Monday evening stated that it’s "an extremely dangerous tornado. You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter." This itself explains the brutality of the situation caused by the series of tornadoes.
Six people died in Winston County, at least one died in Tupelo as one of the several twisters damaged residential and commercial buildings, downed power lines, flattened trees and tossed cars like small toys. At a trailer park near Athens, Alabama at least two people were killed. By far, Arkansas remains the hardest-hit state as severe weather in the country for two days now raised the overall death toll to more than 26.
More tornadoes in the offing
According to latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, this is the season for Tornadoes in the United States and more severe storms could be witnessed in the offing. As Tupelo Mayor, Jason Shelton reiterated the fact that it’s “a very serious situation," and also encouraged “everyone to stay inside and be weather aware. There is still a very real danger of another line coming through and people still need to be inside.”
According to media reports, National Weather Service have confirmed that the threat of tornadoes will linger on for several days to come because a strong weather system is interacting with a large area of unstable air across the central and southern parts of United States.
Picture courtesy- Jhocy, Sean Gardner
