A tornado swept through a small Mississippi town on Sunday night, killing one and injuring about 20.
It arrived in Louin in Jasper County — a small town of about 275 residents — around 11:40 p.m. and ripped houses apart, trapping residents under their homes and sparking an all-night rescue.
Injured residents were loaded onto stretchers and into ambulances among the rubble to the South Central Regional Medical Center in Jackson.
Aerial images taken Monday morning as the sun rose showed the extent of damage to homes and cars.
High winds tore down trees and as many as 50 percent of residents in central and eastern Mississippi were without power Monday.
The Louin tornado comes after a series of storms swept across the South last week, killing five, including three in Perryton, Texas. On Friday, more than 50 million Americans were placed under a severe weather threat.
A tornado swept through Louin, Mississippi around 11:40 p.m. Sunday, tearing up homes and trapping residents under the rubble
A man is pictured among the ruins in Louin, where a tornado struck on Sunday night, killing one and injuring 20.
The tornado hit Louin, MS last night after a cluster of tornadoes hit the south last week. Pictured is a storm from Branch in Morton, Mississippi, earlier on Sunday
The warnings of possible tornadoes were accompanied by large hail and winds of up to 70 miles per hour. Pictured is a storm on Sunday
Storm chaser Brandon Clement was in Louin during the rescue operation and described the damage as ‘significant’.
Many houses have been damaged or destroyed. First responders and volunteers have saved amazing people. At one point they ran out of ambulances and started using a humvee to transport injured people to hospital,” he tweeted Monday morning.
Becky Collins of the South Central Regional Medical Center in Laurel, Mississippi, confirmed with AccuWeather that at least one person died and at least 20 were injured.
By Monday morning, most were in stable condition and some had been released from the hospital, Collins said.
Significant tornado in Louin, MS at around 05z this morning. At least a mid EF2 from what I’ve seen so far. We’ll know more after sunrise,” meteorologist Layten Holland tweeted.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said another tornado hit Rankin County, southeast of Florence, the same night but resulted in no fatalities.
The National Weather Service also had tornado warnings in other parts of Mississippi, including Mount Olive, Snell, Collins and Bassfield, and said a tornado watch would be in place for Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi until 8 a.m. Monday morning.
A large tornado caused severe damage to structures in Louin, Mississippi, on Sunday night
Louin in Mississippi has a small population of less than 300 people. At least 20 residents were injured and taken to a hospital in Jackson
Pictured is the tornado’s damage to Louin on Sunday night
Parts of the country between Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Florida were at risk for tornadoes last week
The warnings of possible tornadoes were accompanied by large hail and winds of up to 70 miles per hour
The warnings for possible tornadoes were accompanied by those of large hail and winds of up to 70 miles per hour.
Haley Fisackerly, president and CEO of Entergy Mississippi, told local station WAPT16 that more than 2,000 workers from six states had been called up to help restore power.
“We feel your pain,” Fisackerly told the outlet.
‘Our employees work in this weather and they also have no electricity, so we know what it’s like. We are very empathetic and work as quickly and safely as possible.’
Felecia Bowser, a National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Florida, called the storm system hitting the south unprecedented for this time of year.
“In June, we usually prepare more for tropical weather,” she said.
“This kind of widespread, aggressive precipitation that we see today tends to be more prevalent in the spring.”
In March, more than 20 people were killed in Mississippi when a cluster of tornadoes hit the state.