Several tornadoes have caused serious damage and cost lives in the southern United States. The southern state of Mississippi was hardest hit: at least eleven people were killed in the storms, as the local disaster management announced.
There were also injuries, it said. Many houses were damaged or destroyed, streets were closed due to debris lying around. At least 72,000 people are without electricity. The civil protection authority stressed that these are provisional figures.
Media reports higher casualties
Hurricanes also damaged other states in the southern United States. The Washington Post reports a total of at least 19 deaths in various states. A total of 1.3 million people are without electricity.
“Nobody wants to celebrate Easter Sunday like this.”
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The storm had hit the southern United States on Easter Sunday. The national weather authority NOAA had warned of possible wind speeds of up to 330 kilometers per hour. It was an “exceptionally rare event”. Mississippi’s governor Tate Reeves wrote on Twitter: “Nobody wants to celebrate Easter Sunday like this.” The Easter storms are catastrophic, but his state cannot be stopped.
Several US states declared an emergency due to the storm. In view of the corona pandemic, the authorities in Mississippi appealed to the population to wear breathing masks in all shelters and to observe the distance rules there as well. The United States is the world’s worst-hit corona pandemic, with more than half a million confirmed infections and more than 22,000 deaths.
haz / ack (dpa, ap, afp)
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