Mississippi tornado leaves 10 dead amid destruction

Posted on Sunday, April 25, 2010

Storms in the US state of Mississippi have left at least 10 people, including children, dead.

Governor Haley Barbour said there was "utter obliteration" in Yazoo County, where three died, and he declared a state of emergency in 17 counties.

A church in Yazoo City was flattened and houses reduced to rubble.

Tornadoes have also been hit the nearby states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama, with the severe weather reported to be moving eastwards.

The bad weather is blowing eastwards

Powerlines have been blown down and road are blocked by fallen trees, after a tornado almost a mile (1.6 km) wide, blew through the centre of the state.

The storms brought heavy rain to some areas.

Five people died in Choctaw County, two of them children, four in Yazoo County and one in Holmes County.

Four injured people were flown by helicopter from Yazoo County to hospital in the state capital, Jackson, for treatment.

"It sounded like a train coming down that road," said Malcolm Gordon, 63.

He hid in a cupboard with his wife, Diane, while the tornado took the roof off his house.

"I'll just bulldoze what's left and start over," he said.

Looking everywhere

Kenneth Gurley, of Warren County, said: "When I got up, the windows started blowing out and it blew me from one room to the next room.

"I grabbed my son, we got on the floor, and next thing I know the roof come off, all the windows were blowed out, the house started flooding with water."

"There are lots of places where a person can get blown off the road," said Gov Barbour.

"And so we've got a lot of volunteers, as well as professional people from the local fire departments who are just trying to run through there and look everywhere to make sure we don't miss anybody."