ROLLING FORK, Miss. -- Preliminary assessments show that 313 structures in Mississippi were destroyed and more than 1,000 were affected in some way, the Federal Emergency Management Agency told emergency managers Monday.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency also revised the state death toll from the tornado to 21, down from 25. The agency said the new number is based on deaths confirmed by coroners. Spokeswoman Allie Jasper said the agency does not know of any people still reported missing. One person was killed in Alabama.
In another weather-related development in the South, people who live in the Heads Creek Reservoir area of Spalding County, Ga., were evacuated Monday as a precaution after the dam began to overflow because of heavy rainfall in a short amount of time, according to officials.
The Friday night disaster makes life even more difficult in the economically struggling Delta region. Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the U.S., and the majority-Black Delta has long been one of the poorest parts of Mississippi -- a place where many people work paycheck to paycheck, often in jobs connected to agriculture.
Two of the counties walloped by the tornado, Sharkey and Humphreys, are among the most sparsely populated in the state, with only a few thousand residents in communities scattered across wide expanses of cotton, corn and soybean fields. Sharkey's poverty rate is 35% and Humphreys' is 33%, compared with about 19% for Mississippi and less than 12% for the entire United States.
People in poverty are vulnerable after disasters not only because they lack financial resources but also because they often don't have friends or family who can afford to provide long-term shelter, said the Rev. Starsky Wilson, president and chief executive officer of the Children's Defense Fund, a national group that advocates policies to help low-income families.
"We have to make sure people with power -- policymakers -- pay attention to and keep their attention on people that are often unseen because they are poor, because they are Black, because they are rural," Wilson told The Associated Press on Monday.
The tornado destroyed many homes and businesses in Rolling Fork and the nearby town of Silver City, leaving mounds of lumber, bricks and twisted metal. The local housing stock was already tight, and some who lost their homes said they will live with friends or relatives. Mississippi opened more than a half-dozen shelters to temporarily house people displaced by the tornado.
The tornado obliterated the modest one-story home that Kimberly Berry shared with her two daughters in the Delta flatlands about 15 miles outside Rolling Fork. It left only the foundation and random belongings -- a toppled refrigerator, a dresser and matching nightstand, a bag of Christmas decorations, some clothing.
During the storm, Berry and her 12-year-old daughter prayed inside a nearby church that was barely damaged, while her 25-year-old daughter survived in Rolling Fork. Berry shook her head as she looked at the remains of their material possessions. She said she's grateful she and her children are still alive.
"I can get all this back. It's nothing," said Berry, 46, who works as a supervisor at a catfish growing and processing operation. "I'm not going to get depressed about it."
She spent the weekend with friends and family sorting through salvageable items. Her sister, Dianna Berry, said her own home a few miles away was undamaged. She works at a deer camp, and she said her boss has offered to let Kimberly Berry and her daughters live there for as long as they need.
President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi on Sunday, making federal funding available to the hardest-hit areas. But Craig Fugate, who headed FEMA when Barack Obama was president, said it's important to remember that the agency will not pay for all expenses after a disaster.
"In those communities where people don't have insurance and the homes were destroyed, their ability to do recovery will be tested," Fugate said.
FEMA provides temporary housing and helps with some uninsured losses, but he said the agency is not designed to replace everything if homes are uninsured or underinsured. Long-term recovery will be heavily dependent on money from Housing and Urban Development.
"That money won't flow fast," he said.
In recent years, FEMA has moved to reduce barriers so that "all people, including those from vulnerable and underserved communities, are better able to access our assistance," said FEMA spokesperson Jeremy Edwards. He cited agency changes expanding the types of documents survivors can provide to verify they lived in or own a particular home.
Marcus T. Coleman Jr., who heads the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships with the Department of Health and Human Services, said after visiting Rolling Fork that he's concerned about the mental health and financial challenges for people struggling in the tornado's aftermath. "Disasters often exacerbate preexisting inequities," Coleman said.
Denise Durel heads United Way of Southwest Louisiana, where residents are still recovering from hurricanes Laura and Delta that hit in 2020. The organization has been helping people rebuild damaged homes, and some were uninsured or had too little coverage.
"Just drive through town," she said. "Blue tarps are still there. The houses are in worse shape."
Louisiana has finally received a large infusion of federal money to help those still struggling from the two 2020 hurricanes. Durel said if people didn't register with FEMA soon after the storms, they can't qualify for this new money. She said the application process is difficult and requires internet access, but many families were focused on gutting their homes and might not have known about registration or understood its importance.
"The people in Mississippi have to understand loud and clear: Somehow you have to find a way to get those people registered with FEMA," Durel said.
1ST EF4 OF 2023
While Friday featured the nation's first EF4 tornado since November, Sunday dawned with a sneaky severe weather threat over the South. What was initially advertised as a Level 2 out of 5 "slight risk" of severe weather was quickly upgraded to a Level 4 risk by the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center. The potential for strong tornadoes and large, destructive hail was advertised as storms rode east along a boundary draped across the South. The tornado threat was expected to ramp up as winds a mile above the ground strengthened during the afternoon.
Contrary to forecasts, the afternoon remained largely tornado-free -- but the morning started with disaster in Georgia. A "confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado" passed south of LaGrange in western Georgia shortly after 7 a.m. It prompted the National Weather Service in Peachtree City to issue a tornado warning. The twister destroyed a number of homes, forced the closure of Interstate 85 and injured at least one person in Troup County.
The same batch of storms progressed east, spawning a tornado in Milledgeville in Baldwin County. It knocked a tree onto an ambulance, damaged the roofs of the hospital and the emergency services building and lifted debris 8,000 feet in the air.
During the afternoon, tornado watches were issued across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia ahead of what was expected to be an outbreak of rotating supercell thunderstorms. Afternoon storms failed to produce much in the way of tornado activity due in part to lackluster spin. However, merging storms increased flash flooding.
'HIGH RISK' FOR FLOODS
The National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center hoisted a Level 4 out of 4 "high risk" for flash flooding and excessive rainfall for portions of central Alabama and Georgia on Sunday night.
Moisture pooling along the stalled front was tapped into by relentless showers and thunderstorms, resulting in a few areas of up to half a foot of rainfall. Flash flood warnings were even issued in LaGrange, Ga., the same place buildings were leveled by the tornado earlier in the day.
Alexander City, Ala., reported 6.73 inches as of early Monday, with 5.88 inches measured to the northwest in Goldwater. The heaviest fell in a 50-mile-wide band that extended all the way into South Carolina. Augusta, Ga., received 7 inches of rainfall. Farther east, 6 inches fell in Sumter, S.C.
Amid all the flooding, severe weather continued to pulse up overnight Sunday into early Monday. Golf-ball-size hail narrowly missed Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, while another tornado tossed debris a mile-and-a-half into the air between Snorter and Tuskegee, Ala., around 3 a.m. Central time.
The Weather Service received about 35 reports of flash flooding between southern Mississippi and South Carolina in the 24 hours ending midday Monday. The flooding closed numerous roads in the region.
AREA EVACUATIONS
People who live in the Heads Creek Reservoir area of Spalding County, Ga., were evacuated Monday as a precaution after the dam began to overflow because of heavy rainfall in a short amount of time, according to officials.
The dam has been undergoing improvements since July 2022, which included building a new spillway structure. Initial reports stated that the dam was at risk of failure, but that was not true, said Glenn Polk, the county's emergency management director.
On Monday, water began flowing around the barricades put in place to allow for construction, he said. That led to enacting their emergency management plan as a precaution.
"We did not have a dam breach, we did not have a dam failure. We only had overflow of a lot of rainfall that we received in a short amount of time," he said.
The sheriff's office closed roads to traffic entering the area and started evacuating residents around 9 a.m. By the afternoon, Polk said residents were being asked to shelter in place and about 40 properties had been identified as being at risk for flooding. Those homeowners had been personally notified.
"This is to ensure the safety of our community as we have experienced 7 inches of rain with more coming," county Manager Steve Ledbetter said.
Storms moved in from the west Monday morning, with severe thunderstorm watches and warnings popping up across areas southwest of the city as pockets of strong weather passed through. Northern areas stayed mostly dry.
The storms brought heavy rain and lightning, along with damaging winds and hail in some areas. For the city, flash flooding and standing water was the main threat.
LATE-WEEK STORM
While a few additional severe thunderstorms could materialize along the Gulf Coast or in the Southeast through today, concern is growing for late in the workweek as the storm about to slam California ejects into the central states.
On Thursday, a low pressure system will develop over the Plains. Counterclockwise winds around the low will draw a conveyor belt of warm, moist air northward. Cold air cascading southward in the low's wake will team up with an insurgence of dry desert air, with the resulting battle of the air masses causing strong to severe storms.
Thursday's forecast is highly uncertain. Storm coverage will be meager at most west of Interstate 35 in Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma; in fact, it's unknown if any storms will fire at all. But if they do, they could produce damaging winds, hail and tornadoes.
Confidence is increasing in the potential for a higher-end event Friday over the Mid-South, Ozarks and parts of the Midwest and Corn Belt. A Level 3 out of 5 risk of severe weather is in effect over a large area that includes Memphis; Little Rock; Rockford, Ill.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and St. Louis.
Information for this article was contributed by Emily Wagster Pettus, Robert Bumsted, Rebecca Santana and Michael Goldberg of The Associated Press, Matthew Cappucci and Jason Samenow of The Washington Post and by Rosana Hughes of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS).
A woman who lives across the street from, Lonnie and Melissa Pierce, who were killed when a semi truck landed on their house during a tornado that hit three days earlier, collects coins from under rubble of her home, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Miss. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A downed street sign lies with other debris following Friday's violent tornado in downtown Rolling Fork, Miss., Monday, March 27, 2023. (Hannah Mattix/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)
Damage to the house of Lonnie and Melissa Pierce, who were killed when a truck landed on their house during a tornado that hit three days earlier, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Miss. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Damage is seen on properties in Rolling Fork, Miss., where three days earlier a tornado ripped through the town, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Miss. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A woman walks near an uprooted tree, a flipped vehicle and debris from homes damaged by a tornado, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Miss. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A blown down wall and ripped off roof open a main room to the Rolling Fork City Hall Board Room Annex, constructed in 2014 and photographed Sunday, March 26, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Miss. It is among the public buildings heavily damaged or destroyed by the Friday night tornado that hit Rolling Folk, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Mary Cockrell looks at the home of her neighbors, Lonnie and Melissa Pierce, who were killed when a semi truck landed on their house during a tornado that hit three days earlier, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Miss. Cockrell's home was also damaged during the storm. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Jermaine Wells, neighbor of Lonnie and Melissa Pierce, who were killed when the truck landed on their house during a tornado that hit three days earlier, talks about the destruction to his home, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Miss. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A semi truck is seen on top of the home of Lonnie and Melissa Pierce, who were killed when the truck landed on their house during a tornado that hit three days earlier, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Miss. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)Gallery: Deadly tornado in Mississippi, day 3
