re: At least 23 dead in Mississippi tornadoes

Damn, that's awful. Tornadoes are some scary shite

Official death toll in Mississippi is currently at 23 according to the Mississippi EMA:

Morning Update as of 6:20am:
We can confirm 23 dead, dozens injured, 4 missing due to last night's tornadoes. We have numerous local and state search and rescue teams that continue to work this morning. A number of assets are on the ground to assist those that have been impacted

msema tweet

I worked the Alabama tornadoes in 2011. This reminds me of the Hackleburg tornado. A little town of 1,500 or so in the middle of nowhere. An EF5 tornado that destroyed 75% of the city and left 18 people dead.

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Here's video from Rolling Fork, MS.

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I wa having a pretty good Saturday morning until I watched that. Ukraine has nothing on them.

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Tornadoes are by far the scariest natural disasters. I have been in earthquakes , hurricanes , even a Volcano eruption but never a tornado and would like to keep it that way.

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I stood alongside a small brick gas station in Stillwater, OK as a F4-F5 came down the median of the divided highway. Had to stand along the outside wall as the station was closed early and we had just left a Waffle House style restaurant to get away from all their glass windows. Both the gals that came to see me lost a side window to tiny flint chips blown by the tornado, my front windshield looked like it had been acid etched and had to be replaced.

But, we knew we had no other choice when just pulling out of the parking lot of the greasy spoon my Toyota Celica front end starting bouncing off the ground from the winds. We got pummeled with rain and rocks from all directions except our backs which were up against the wall.

The thing was literally on the ground in the median as it passed (median and opposite direction, roughly 20 yards or so across at the time). Hate to see what a mile wide one is like up close like that!!!

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Nah, people realize when they live in a mobile home what the tradeoffs are.

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That can be mitigated somewhat by having them anchored.

But you get a mile wide F5 and you're screwed even if you live in a stick built home with a basement.

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Don't forget Phil Campbell. It was wiped off the map completely.

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I did some work in Phil Campbell too. The destruction in Hackleburg was more severe IMO. It looked like Hiroshima. Driving into town and seeing 3 different burial services going on simultaneously at the cemetery was pretty impactful.

Rolling Fork in daylight

LINK

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Those poor people.

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I can confirm. They are very poor in that area. So sad. That town will never come back.

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Edit - RF is not terrible far, I wonder if it would be a good idea to go to Costco and load my truck down with water? I don't want to get in the way of any efforts, not sure the protocol here.

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I’m sure you can drive until the roads are blocked and set up there. I wouldn’t try to go around blocked roads. Bring a chain saw with you.