the devastation. it s just we re looking at the video. now. it s incredible. it is striking jim to see this devastation of close and in person, you know, it s not really an exaggeration to say that there is very little of this town that has remained untouched from the tornado that ripped through here on. uh, the buildings that we re seeing here throughout the area have been reduced to rubble. there are individuals that we smoke into that don t understand how they got out alive, considering so many around them perished. as you mentioned at least 25 people have been killed as a result of the storms that we re continuing the machinery being brought through these areas clear out the records, and it was earlier that i spoke to one of the tornado survivors. ernest hall, who says that he was asleep when the initial storm came through. woken up by a phone call of a family member asking for help to erased across town to a trailer park where we re standing in front of that is among the
to, uh, get back again. uh double a c t. other organizations have stepped up. uh we have over 300 red cross volunteers enrolling fourth mississippi, uh, but there are other areas. uh silver city. uh mississippi, another communities similar to roland for just smaller there in that stimulus situation, so we have managing it after friends will have to help us, uh, understand the secretary of homeland security will be here in the morning as well as the fema administrator to get a firsthand uh, viewing of what is occurring, but i m optimistic. list of proper help . we can come back. uh only hospital in this community is offline right now, so we re
having to transport injured over 50 miles away to the nearest hospital. and so maybe i can get my governor here in mississippi to accept the medicaid expansion dollars that could have gotten us the proper emergency generation for our hospital. enrolling for so that we wouldn t be offline. so there are a lot of things we have to work through. but i m convinced that just this tragedy ah is an opportunity, uh, to bring this community back better than what you see right now. well what we re seeing right now is just devastating. um, the level of destruction. it s pretty hard to look at and i have to ask you. you mentioned all the destruction in the town right now, uh and all those first responders and so on their buildings are gone. what about the people living in that community are their enough
other areas. uh, have set up feeding tents. uh, they re grilling and distributing water and other things, uh, just helping so clearly. everybody is doing what they can but it will be a long term recovery effort for this community and others that are impacted. well, congressman bennie thompson. we appreciate you taking time out of the data update our viewers on on what s happening on the ground there. uh our hearts go out to the community there. we know it s a it s a tough hall ahead for everybody there, but we appreciate the time. thanks so much. thanks so much, jim. alright and for more information on how you can help the victims of the deadly tornado and severe storms that swept through mississippi and alabama, you can go to cnn .com/ impact. in the meantime, rescue crews and eastern pennsylvania are searching for survivors in the rubble of a candy factory after
for certain ariana vogue at the supreme court, and this is cnn. you re back live in the cnn newsroom. i m jim acosta in washington at this hour, a state of emergency blankets much of mississippi were an outbreak of tornadoes has left a trail of devastation and heartache. this is rolling fork where the mayor says the city is gone. at least 25 people are confirmed dead in mississippi and one in alabama and add some perspective to the scope of the tragedy. consider this. the national weather service as war people have been killed by tornadoes in the last 24 hours than in all of last year. that s across the entire nation. cnn s nick valencia is enrolling for mississippi for us. he joins us by phone, nick, i know you re still having cell issues there and live shot issues there because of just all