Recovery efforts underway in Mississippi after tornado

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency revised the death toll from Friday night’s tornado from 25 to 21. President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for the state on Sunday, making federal funds available for recovery efforts. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said the tornado destroyed more than 300 buildings and damaged more than 1,000 others.

What kinds of areas are damaged? The areas the tornado tore through are largely low-income areas. Two of the counties struck by the storm have a poverty rate of more than 30 percent. The poverty rate for Mississippi is roughly 20 percent, and the nation’s rate is roughly 12 percent.

Dig deeper: Read Onize Ohikere’s report in World Tour about the recovery efforts in Africa after Cyclone Freddy.