TYLERTOWN, Miss.—J.L. Harrell heard the tornado long before it reached his home in Tylertown, Mississippi. The sound was deafening, he said, like “10 freight trains” coming down the tracks at the same time.
He and his wife huddled in a ground-floor closet as the twister passed over their stately brick house, tearing off most of the roof and reducing window shutters to splinters. Bludgeoning winds ripped brick clusters from the walls and toppled a pair of columns flanking the entranceway. Severed tree limbs mingled with roof fragments and other debris on the front lawn.
It was over quickly, Harrell recalled. The place he and his wife had called home for 17 years was disfigured in less than two minutes.
“We had everything we needed (here),” Harrell told the Mississippi Free Press on March 18. “You’re getting ready to settle down, and this happens. You can’t imagine what I’m going through or this feels like.”
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Over two weeks after severe storms conjured 18 tornadoes across Mississippi, hard-hit residents like Harrell remain in a state of limbo. Many of those who lost homes have stayed with relatives or friends while they wait for more permanent housing options to materialize, state officials and community leaders tell the Mississippi Free Press. Others have had to rely on hotels and short-term housing vouchers supplied by nonprofits.
A total of 941 homes statewide sustained damage on March 14 and March 15, Mississippi’s Emergency Management Agency announced on March 20. Of those, 164 were completely destroyed, and more than 200 suffered significant damage. Thirty-eight businesses and 25 farms were also harmed.
Seven residents lost their lives, including three in Harrell’s home county.
On April 1, Gov. Tate Reeves asked the White House to issue a major disaster declaration for Mississippi, which would unlock sweeping government aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Reeves requested FEMA assistance for individual storm victims in 14 counties as well as for public buildings and infrastructure in 17 counties.
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