A Mississippi tornado has killed at least one person as severe weather flattened homes across the state

• Over the weekend, multiple tornadoes passed through Mississippi. 
• One touched down in Louin, a small town east of Jackson, killing at least one person.
• Local authorities caution that more severe weather is slated for this afternoon.

Over the weekend, multiple tornadoes passed through Mississippi, where residents have faced severe weather for almost two weeks. 

Local authorities are still assessing the damage. But injuries are piling up, and there’s been at least one confirmed death, a spokeswoman for the local trauma center told Insider.

One tornado touched down in Louin, Mississippi, a small town about 70 miles east of Jackson, late Sunday night.

South Central Regional Medical Center, a trauma center about 45 minutes south of the rural town, has received 20 storm victims from the area. Of the 20, one has died, the center’s spokeswoman, Becky Collins, told Insider.

The rest of the victims are stable, and the majority have been discharged, she said. 

The last time the health system saw a weather event like this in the area was April 2020, Collins said, when multiple tornadoes in the state caused catastrophic damage.

Jonathan Petramala, reporting from Louin last night for Weather & Radar USA, said in a video that the tornado came late at night, which is “absolutely the worst kind of tornado” because people are asleep. 

“People [were] literally ripped from their bed by this tornado as it destroyed the home around them,” he said. 

Volunteers have come from all over the region to help out with search and rescue, Petramala said. He witnessed one such rescue of two elderly women who sheltered in their bathroom overnight while the rest of the home was completely destroyed, he said. 

Footage from WxChasing, a storm-chaser, gives a hint at the extent of the damage in Louin. The videos show flattened homes and huge swaths of trees snapped like toothpicks.

The Louin tornado is just one of five reported in Mississippi on Sunday, according to the Storm Prediction Center. On Twitter, Tate Reeves, the state’s governor, said there would be more updates to come as authorities work to confirm and assess damage from the storms.

Over the past few years, more tornadoes in the US are striking further East than usual, affecting states like Mississippi and Arkansas, Insider previously reported. This has already led to widespread damage, due partially to higher levels of poverty and denser populations in these states.

Mississippi is still facing extreme weather

Brutal weather has gripped Mississippi for nine days.

Yesterday, a severe storm in Hernando, near neighboring Tennessee’s Memphis, destroyed homes and electrical wiring, according to the local news outlet WLBT.

“I was so nervous I could hardly take it,” one resident told WLBT, adding she’d never seen anything like Sunday’s storm.

Another resident whose house was damaged told the outlet, “We did know some weather was coming through but I had no idea it was something like this.”

Unfortunately, more severe weather is on the way for South Mississippi this afternoon, potentially including damaging winds, hail, and more tornadoes, the state’s emergency management agency said on Twitter.

As of Monday, nearly 50,000 residents in the central part of the state lack electricity.