Tornado flattens homes and leaves trail of destruction in Mississippi, drone footage shows

A “large and destructive” tornado tore through northern Mississippi and northern Alabama on Tuesday evening, leaving behind a trail of damage and prompting a dire warning to be issued for those in its path.

Severe thunderstorms began to blossom over the Tennessee Valley late Tuesday afternoon, and by 5:35 p.m. CDT, the National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that there was a tornado bearing down on Tishomingo, Mississippi.

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Almost immediately, damage was being reported out of the town in the northeastern corner of Mississippi, including a Dollar General that was left with substantial damage. Fortunately, only minor injuries have been reported, according to WTVA.

On March 24, a large tornado moved across Tishomingo, Mississippi, in a destructive path. (AccuWeather/Brett Adair)

After going through Tishomingo, the tornado crossed the border into northern Alabama, prompting the NWS to issue an extremely rare tornado emergency. "At 5:41 p.m. CDT, a confirmed large and destructive tornado was observed near Tishomingo State Park, moving east at 45 mph," the emergency bulletin read.

Tornado emergencies are only issued a few times a year across the country and are only issued during significant severe weather events.

Storm damage in Tishomingo, Mississippi, in the wake of a tornado-warned thunderstorm on Tuesday evening. (Twitter/@nmscasStan)

The same thunderstorm that spawned this tornado went on to track through Decatur, Alabama, around 7 p.m. CDT, prompting a tornado warning to be issued for the city.

On Wednesday afternoon, the NWS confirmed that the tornado that hit Tishomingo was an EF1 with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph.

The threat of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms will continued across the region through Tuesday night before drier conditions returned on Wednesday.

The dry weather on Wednesday will help with any recovery and cleanup efforts in the wake of Tuesday’s storms.

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