portions of mississippi and alabama or live in the weather center. awarding to the west, vladimir putin says he will station nuclear weapons in belarus. and risking it all for the american dream, a rising number of pregnant women and minors make the dangerous trek through panama for a chance at asylum in the us from cnn center. cnn newsroom with laila harre. we begin with a massive cleanup underway in the southeastern us after powerful storms that spawned deadly tornadoes barreled through mississippi and nearby states friday night, at least 26 people were killed and dozens injured. the secretary of homeland security is set to tour the area later today and in the past couple of hours, president biden approved the mississippi governor s request for a major disaster declaration to get federal disaster. eight. flowing as quickly as possible. the mayor of heart hit rolling fork saying his city is gone. here s congressman bennie thompson, describing the destruction in his home stat
talking about tornado disasters. our cities continue to grow larger. we have maybe the same or a few more of these types of events due to climate change, but the results are more of these disasters because of the co mingling of climate change and the way we build victor urgency knee. thank you so much for valuable information. thank you. thank you, leila. an animal shelter was also damaged as the tornado barreled through mississippi, the ameri humane society says. luckily none of the animals were hurt. they say there is damage to the structures and part of the roof was ripped right off. a staff member says some of the dark kennels were damaged in the dogs were as you can imagine terrified organization says several rescue shelters from other parts of the states are helping them while they clean up and rebuild. ukraine is reacting
that is not precisely true. what is certain, it is one of the worst tornado disasters we ve had in the country, and the second thing that s certain is that it is unusual. it is unusual how it happened, how many places it touched down in the path. that s all i m prepared to talk about right now. reporter: mr. president, this is all happening in the middle of a pandemic. how are you thinking about will these places need. reporter: more resources because they re also dealing with possibly a rise in cases, possibly hospitals being overloaded, things of that nature? yes. look, we have i have my the entire federal team not just the folks going in and making sure there s still people we re not leaving anybody still breathing under debris. that s the immediate, immediate urgent, urgent thing, and just to get the food, water to people
some has to do with el nino. i don t want to say anything that is not precisely true. what is certain it s one of the worst tornado disasters we have had in the country. the second thing that is certain it s unusual. how it happened. how many place it touched down. the length of the path. that s all i am prepared to talk about right now. [shouting questions]. [inaudible question]? [muffled audio]. [inaudible question]. yes. look, i have the entire federal team not just the folks going in and making sure there are still people without leaving anybody still breathing under debris.
linking this particular storm directly to climate change, the president said he has no doubt that recent severe weather events are related to the climate crisis. what is certain, it is one of the worst tornado disasters we ve had in the country and the second thing is certain is that it is unusual. it is unusual how it happened, how many places it touched down and the length of the path. reporter: the president did overnight sign a disaster declaration for kentucky. he ll be doing so for illinois as well and he ll be traveling to fort campbell, kentucky, for a briefing on wednesday followed by getting a firsthand look in mayfield and dawson springs in the western part of the commonwealth. certainly this is the latest time that president biden going to visit a disaster area. so much need there. and his administration certainly will be tested by this. but as of now, they are getting high marks in the early days. jeff zeleny at the white house, thank you. for ways that you can hel