President Joe Biden early Sunday issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi, making federal funding available to Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties, the areas hardest hit Friday night by a deadly tornado that ripped through the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest regions of the U.S, Ednews reports citing CBC News.
CBS News has confirmed at least 26 people were killed in Mississippi and Alabama as the massive storm ripped through several towns on its hour-long path. Dozens others were injured.
Search and recovery crews on Sunday resumed the daunting task of digging through the debris of flattened and battered homes, commercial buildings and municipal offices after hundreds of people were displaced.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell traveled to Mississippi Sunday to evaluate the damage.
"In disasters like this, there are no strangers: everyone comes together, everyone is a neighbor, everyone is family," Mayorkas said Sunday. "They cannot do it alone, and the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA will be here as long as it takes. The entire federal family is here to support these communities."
