At least 23 people have died after a tornado tore through the US state of Mississippi on Friday night.
The twister caused devastation in several rural towns, where trees and power lines were torn down and tens of thousands of power outages were reported as the trail Hail the size of golf balls and heavy rainfall were reported in several areas of the state.
Four people were missing as search and rescue teams combed through the destruction looking for survivors after the storm struck Silver City, a town of 200 people in Western Mississippi, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said in a series of tweets.
“Unfortunately, these numbers are expected to change,” it said, referring to the death count.Search and rescue teams were also out in Rolling Fork, a town of 1,700 people that saw the brunt of the tornado, media houses said.
At least 24 reports of tornadoes were issued to the National Weather Service on Friday night and into Saturday morning by storm chasers and observers. The reports stretched from the western edge of Mississippi north through the center of the state and into Alabama.