The tornado that tore through Rolling Fork was a rare and powerful storm.
President Joe Biden on Sunday approved disaster relief for Mississippi, making funding available to those impacted by the severe storms that battered the state on Friday night.
Federal funds will be available to government, tribal and other agencies in Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties, the White House said in a statement.
The severe tornado that tore through Rolling Fork, Mississippi, late Friday was assigned a rating of EF-4, a classification that marks it as a rare and powerful storm.
Emergency rescuers and first responders climb through a tornado demolished mobile home park, Mar. 25, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Miss.
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
The National Weather Service office in Jackson, Mississippi, said the preliminary rating comes as staffers are still gathering information about the storm.
The EF, or Enhanced Fujita, scale assigns tornados a number from zero to five based on damage, with five being the most catastrophic. According to the Storm Prediction Center, EF-4 tornadoes make up only 1% of all tornadoes. Historically, the vast majority of twisters have been rated EF-0 or EF-1.
This combination of handout aerial images released by Planet Labs PBC shows the town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, on July 13, 2020, and damage to the town on March 25, 2023, after a tornado touched down on March 24, 2023.
Planet Labs PBC/AFP via Getty
Early data showed that that tornado was on ground for 59 miles over a period of about 70 minutes. Its maximum width was about three-quarters of a mile, or roughly 4,000 feet.
The tornado’s maximum wind gust hasn’t yet been determined, but an EF-4 tornado is capable gusts gusts between 166 and 200 mph.
Gov. Tate Reeves, who submitted the disaster declaration, said on Saturday that the “scale of the damage and loss is evident everywhere affected today.”
A resident looks through the piles of debris, insulation, and home furnishings to see if anything is salvageable at a mobile home park in Rolling Fork, Miss., Saturday, Mar. 25, 2023.
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
“Homes, businesses … entire communities. Respond, Recover, Rebuild together,” he said on Twitter. “That is the mission.”
ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Daniel Amarante, Kevin Shalvey and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
