The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Published By: Anumita Kaur and Emmanuel Felton, The Washington Post
ROLLING FORK, Miss. – Damien Harris dug through the rubble on the lot where his family’s mobile home once stood Sunday morning, desperate to find anything from his old life that he could hold onto.
Two days earlier, his mother had called and told him not to come home. The weather was bad and seemed to only be getting worse. He did what she told him but grew worried when he didn’t hear from her hours later.
He raced back to Rolling Fork around 11 p.m. in the pouring rain, but it was too late. His family’s mobile home was gone and his mother was dead, the victim of a powerful tornado that tore through Mississippi, killing 25 people.
“It was a mobile home to a lot of people,” he said, picking up an old baseball mitt of his that he found lying in a puddle. “But it was home.”
On Sidney Alexander Street, where Harris lived, and the neighboring blocks that line Mulberry Street, destruction came quickly. The tornado was exceptionally large, carving a path measuring nearly 60 miles, according to the National Weather Service. Less than 1 percent of tornadoes in the United States travel more than 50 miles. Read more
