The strength and timing of the tornado added to the devastation in Rolling Fork and elsewhere.
The tornado had a three-second gust of 166 to 200 mph, according to the National Weather ServiceAn unusual and powerful tornado in Mississippi has left storm chasers and meteorologists in shock as it left a devastating trail in its path.
Ms Cox told the BBC that she initially was not able to determine how large or strong the storm would be. But she then heard a massive roar, she said, followed by a lightning strike that illuminated what she described as a "monster" of a tornado. It developed from a supercell storm - a rotating storm where the updraft and the downdraft are separated. It is caused by warm, unstable air near the ground and changing speed and direction of the wind at increasing heights.
Samuel Emmerson, a member of the radar research group at the University of Oklahoma, said the tornado flung debris 30,000 feet up in the air.Preliminary findings have registered the tornado a four on the Enhanced Fujita scale, meaning it had a three-second gust of 166 to 200 mph, Mr Perrilloux said.
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