More storms are on the
way this morning for the Southeast.
Torrential rain in Alabama
and Georgia overnight,
leading to widespread flood
threats today.
More than 20 million
people are under severe storm threats.
This comes after powerful
tornadoes over the weekend
killed 26 people.
At least 20 confirmed tornadoes.
Tornadoes hit Alabama, Tennessee
and Mississippi.
The worst hit
Rolling Fork,
Mississippi, leaving
many in a state of shock.
Flower shop,
beauty shop, barber
low office is just down
the street are all gone.
We're just trying to get what we can
out of the
rubble.
It's pretty shocking.
Yeah, it is pretty shocking.
Let's turn now to CNN's Nick Valencia
joining us live from Rolling Fork.
Nick, how are people doing today?
What are they doing?
Yeah, good morning, Don.
They're picking up the pieces here
and grieving
after the loss of more than two
dozen people
and scenes like this
or what's left behind after that
EF four tornado
ripped through this portion
of the Mississippi Delta.
Just take a look
at the strength of these winds.
Picking up cars like this,
wedging it between vehicles.
And it's not very much of this town
that's left
first start coming back since the storm.
What do you think?
Blessed to be alive
as the massive EF four tornado
headed towards his Rolling
Fork apartment, Antwan Jones.
A local police officer
took cover with his girlfriend
in their bathroom tub.
About to have left from overseas.
And the storm actually
placed us down with about who
it was originally.
I mean, you have to think that this is
maybe the end for you.
You're up in the air.
You're floating around.
Yes, sir.
We thought we thought
we were going to die.
We thought he was going to die.
Miraculously, both survived
with just a few scratches.
Then Jones,
who was born
and raised in Rolling Fork,
put on his uniform and went to work.
Once I realized that I was okay
it was a sign of getting into that
first point.
About a few blocks away.
We meet Amanda Kelly
and her boyfriend, Scotty.
In February,
she says she was diagnosed with spinal
cerebellar attacks here,
a Parkinson's like condition
that affects her ability
to walk and talk.
And now this event was not first degree
Thank God I wouldn't be here.
There is no doubt
because I wouldn't have been able
to get from my room
to a hallway by myself and I wouldn't
have been able to hold myself down.
You were getting blown away.
I was literally getting sucked up.
We both were.
Kelly lost both her walkers
in the tornado, along with so much else.
But like many here in Rolling Fork,
their material possessions
are meaningless to them
given the fact they survived
when so many did.
The house went to Shake
and I said, Yeah, he's really serious.
This time.
For 65 year old Elijah Washington,
this is the third tornado he survived.
This one, he says, was by far the worst.
There were smile. He says he's lucky.
And this devastated mobile home
park where eyewitnesses tell CNN
several people died.
Washington says
he was one of the few of his neighbors
who had home insurance
I heard somebody moan and say
to stick to somebody to pick up.
They broke,
you know, and stuff like that.
And here you are
with just a scratch on your finger.
Yeah,
a scratch on my finger and
walking around.
I walked out of here last night.
They just amazing,
amazing.
Is one word for it.
Antoine Jones
would rather see his story of survival
as a sign from God.
And he says he's going to listen.
That was your girlfriend
that you were in the tub with Yes, sir.
So you got to get married now.
You know that, right?
Yes.
I can't let it go.
And many people
are holding each other
extra close this morning
after what they went through last night.
Another round of severe weather
was like salt in the wounds here, Don.
And looking at scenes like this,
you could tell it's
going to take a long time before things
get back to normal Don.
Just devastating.
Nick Valencia
on the ground for us in Rolling Fork.
Thank you, Nick, for joining us now.
Rolling for Vice Mayor LaDonna Sears
and her own home was destroyed
in the tornado. Mayor, I'm so sorry
Thank you.
How are you holding up?
We're holding up
as best
we can based on the circumstances
that we're here.
You know,
how do you even begin
to recover right now from devastation
like this?
I'm looking behind you.
And this is just a small portion
of what happened
right?
It's really hard.
You're trying to
keep it together.
For yourself and for others.
But when you think about
what has happened,
when you have an opportunity
to drive through walk through,
you know, you're looking at neighborhoods
where homes have been totally demolished,
is heart
wrenching, is overwhelming at times.
You have your moments where you
break down,
but then you have to
get yourself together,
get your bootstrap back up,
get your feet planted solid
and you got to keep moving on.
But at the hardest part
is having to witness
someone that has lost a loved one
and then having to talk to people
that were residents here
but have been displaced
due to this disaster.
Its heart is overwhelming
and his heart wrenching.
Did you know any
of the people who died
Yes, I did.
I'm actually waiting on a list.
I have asked my counterpart,
other alderman
and he's actually willing to meet.
We're meeting this morning
sometime this morning.
He and I to.
I've asked for a
a confirmed list
That's what we need, a confirmed list
of of
people that were killed
during this tornado.
So I will be meeting with our alderman
Stewart this morning.
And so we'll be trying
to get
a confirmed list
of those people
that were killed in the tornado.
And yes, I did know quite a few of them.
We all did.
Yeah.
It's a close knit community, I'm sure.
Where were you when this happened?
Yeah,
actually, I was at home
My husband, he was home
and he was
constantly telling me, you know,
you need to get up, let's get dressed.
And by the
time I
got up and was trying to get dressed,
he pushed me in the closet in his closet,
and he was able to close the door
and the minute he closed the door,
the force jammed the door,
and he was just constantly
trying to hold the door
so he wouldn't come open.
And you could literally hear the house
ripping apart.
So we were
we just hid in the closet
until the sound stopped.
And like I said earlier,
it appeared to be forever to me.
I'm sure it was a small time frame,
but it sounded like it was forever
and it sounded like a tornado
or you know, a train.
It sounded like a train
was coming through.
And at that point, he said is hearing
and we could hear the pavilion
coming apart
and we could hear the house coming apart.
And when we were able
to get out of the closet
after the,
you know,
from on jamming the door
and we walked down the hall
and what I was able to see Highway 61
and all of the lights
I knew being at that point
that that the house was gone.
You know
so the only thing you know
the closet that we were in
and then we were trapped in the garage
because the garage door was jammed
and we couldn't get out.
And it was it was terrifying.
It was terrifying.
When you look around right now
your community
I know you're standing there,
but when you look around what do you see
homes
that were homes, structures
that are totally demolished,
totally demolished.
Everyone on this street,
on this end of the street that we're on
has been been displaced.
I mean, there's nothing here.
There's nothing here but a lot of wood,
bricks and rubbish. There's nothing here.
Homes have been totally flattened.
A lot of limbs down.
A large
debris are trees
pulled up from the ground
on top of roof tops and windows
broken out.
Vehicles totally shattered,
turned upside down.
It's it's horrible.
And where I'm actually standing,
this couple that lived here
knew them very well.
The next family, you know,
people lost lives on this street,
you know.
And how can you how can you rebuild
or come back from that,
you know, from a family?
All of the materialistic
things can be replaced.
But to lose a life that's replaceable,
you can't replace that. And it's total.
It's devastating. It's devastating.
Vice Mayor, we're thinking about you.
And we hope you get
the resources that you need.
And you guys,
please take care of yourselves.
Okay? Be well.
And we appreciate you joining us.
Thank you so much.