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Several tornadoes caused severe damage and cost lives in the southern United States. The southern state of Mississippi was hardest hit: At least eleven people were killed there in the storm, as the local civil protection agency announced.
In addition, there were injuries, it was 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 emphasized that these are preliminary figures.
The TV broadcaster ABC reported that there were at least eight deaths in South Carolina and six in Georgia. In addition, a person was killed in Arkansas. According to Louisiana’s governor John Bel Edwards, there were no deaths in his state.
The storm hit the southern United States on Easter Sunday. The national meteorological agency NOAA had warned of possible wind speeds of up to 330 kilometers per hour. It is 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 will not let it get down.
Several US states declared a state of emergency in the face of the storm. In view of the corona pandemic, the Mississippi authorities appealed to the population to wear breathing masks in all shelters and to observe the distance rules there too. The US is the world’s hardest hit country by the corona pandemic, with more than half a million confirmed infections and more than 22,000 deaths.
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