A storm that brewed two tornadoes in Mississippi and Alabama left 26 people dead on Friday night. Twenty-five people died in Mississippi and another tornado left one person dead in Alabama.

In Rolling Fork, Mississippi, dozens more people were injured. Footage and photos show buildings torn off their foundations and semitrucks flipped over. The delta town of the Mississippi River saw the most severe damage from the tornado.

According to a White House press release, President Joe Biden declared the tornado a disaster on Sunday morning. Biden ordered federal aid in the areas most impacted by the storm from March 24 to March 25. 

“The President’s action makes Federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey,” the statement said. 

The National Weather Service in Jackson, Mississippi gave the tornado a preliminary rating of an EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. According to their website, this rating means that three-second winds range from 166-200 miles per hour. This is the second highest rating on the EF Scale. 

University researchers’ data were used in the preliminary rating of the tornado. The University project Propagation, Evolution and Rotation in Linear Storms helped attain the data. A statement released by the NWS said that “Without (PERiLS’) help and expertise, it would not have been possible to cover so much ground.”

According to the NWS, Mississippi has seen an average of eight deaths per year in the years 1950-2020. Based on their data, the tornado on Friday was the sixth deadliest in Mississippi.

If you would like to donate to the American Red Cross for relief funds to those who were affected by the tornado, you can use the link here. 

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