A tornado struck parts of Mississippi on Friday and caused damage to at least two communities, forecasters said.
The extent of the damage was not immediately clear from officials, but the National Weather Service said there was damage in Rolling Fork and Silver City.
“We are in desperate need of assistance with search and rescue,” Randy Taylor, a corrections officer with the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office, where Silver City is, told NBC affiliate WLBT of Jackson. “People are trapped.”
All sheriff’s deputies were responding to the storm and officials from the jail were tasked with dispatch and asking other counties for assistance, he said.
No fatalities had immediately been reported, Malary White, spokesperson for Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said.
The state was sending search-and-rescue resources and other help to the area but a damage estimate was not available, White said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also been alerted and is monitoring the situation, she said.
Just after 8 p.m., the weather service warned that a tornado was on the ground and headed towards Rolling Fork, a community of around 1,800 around 60 miles northwest of Jackson.
It later said the tornado was heading into Silver City, which is northeast of Rolling Fork and has a population of around 220.
Rolling Fork and other areas had been under a “tornado emergency” issued by the weather service, and forecasters urged people to take cover immediately.
A tornado emergency is a term used when there is a severe threat to life, and reliable sources have confirmed a tornado, according to the weather service. It began to be used in 1999 when a tornado was headed towards Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The tornado in Mississippi occurred as very buoyant air and strong low-level and upper-level shear was forecast to increase the risk of severe storms in the area, according to the weather service.
Most of Mississippi, and parts of northern Alabama and central Tennessee were under tornado watches Friday night.
Earlier Friday in Texas, two EF1 tornadoes with 100 mph winds struck in Parker County, west of Fort Worth, around 5 a.m., the weather service said. Five people were injured, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reported.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
