TYLERTOWN, Miss.—J.L. Harrell heard the tornado long before it reached his home in Tylertown, Mississippi. The sound was deafening, he said, like “10 freight trains” coming down the tracks at the same time.
He and his wife huddled in a ground-floor closet as the twister passed over their stately brick house, tearing off most of the roof and reducing window shutters to splinters. Bludgeoning winds ripped brick clusters from the walls and toppled a pair of columns flanking the entranceway. Severed tree limbs mingled with roof fragments and other debris on the front lawn.
It was over quickly, Harrell recalled. The place he and his wife had called home for 17 years was disfigured in less than two minutes.
“We had everything we needed (here),” Harrell told the Mississippi Free Press on March 18. “You’re getting ready to settle down, and this happens. You can’t imagine what I’m going through or this feels like.”
Over two weeks after severe storms conjured 18 tornadoes across Mississippi, hard-hit residents like Harrell remain in a state of limbo. Many of those who lost homes have stayed with relatives or friends while they wait for more permanent housing options to materialize, state officials and community leaders tell the Mississippi Free Press. Others have had to rely on hotels and short-term housing vouchers supplied by nonprofits.
A total of 941 homes statewide sustained damage on March 14 and March 15, Mississippi’s Emergency Management Agency announced on March 20. Of those, 164 were completely destroyed, and more than 200 suffered significant damage. Thirty-eight businesses and 25 farms were also harmed.
Seven residents lost their lives, including three in Harrell’s home county.
On April 1, Gov. Tate Reeves asked the White House to issue a major disaster declaration for Mississippi, which would unlock sweeping government aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Reeves requested FEMA assistance for individual storm victims in 14 counties as well as for public buildings and infrastructure in 17 counties.
State officials say it’s unclear how soon the help will come.
“It’s really up to the president, and he can take as long as he wants,” Eric Bullard, the interim director at MEMA’s office of external affairs, told the Mississippi Free Press on April 1. “It could be a couple days, it could be a month, it could be two months.”
As Mississippi communities attempt to move forward and heal from the recent destruction, Harrell and other longtime homeowners can do little except keep waiting.
“I never thought that I would come to the point where I need somebody,” he said on March 18. “But it’s that way (right now).”
Community Response
The morning after multiple tornadoes cut a deadly path through Walthall County, Rebecca Deer Smith posted a call to action in Tylertown’s community Facebook group. The storms had left her own house unharmed, but she’d seen and heard enough in the previous 24 hours to know the county’s needs would be significant.
That same day, Smith and other volunteers set up a donations center outside her old business in Tylertown, collecting clothes, water and other essentials and distributing them to anyone affected by the dangerous conditions. Donations continued to pour in over the next 48 hours, and by March 18, Smith was close to running out of storage space.
“The whole county has brought clothes,” she told the Mississippi Free Press that afternoon. “The amount of stuff and the people that have come out to help—it’s been phenomenal.”
With pockets of Mississippi still reeling from the recent storms, residents of Walthall County and beyond have rallied around neighbors, friends and strangers whose lives have been upended by the extreme weather.
Churches have prepared hot meals and dispatched volunteers to damaged homes to clear driveways and assist with repairs. Residents have rented out hotel rooms and loaned out campers to families in need of lodging. And small business owners have converted stores, offices and warehouses into temporary donation sites, hoping to serve as a hub for community members lacking basic necessities.
“These are my people,” Jennifer Thomas, the owner of a Brumfield’s Drugs, told the Mississippi Free Press on March 18. Her Tylertown pharmacy began handing out clothes, food and other items on March 16. “We’re running the store trying to take care of people’s prescriptions … and then still trying to help people pack up and get whatever they need.”
Residents were quick to acknowledge that it will take more than volunteer work and community donations to help Mississippi recover from the storms.
In Walthall County alone, 35 homes were destroyed beyond repair, and roughly 20 more were badly damaged, Carl Myers, a volunteer with Mississippi Baptist Disaster Relief, told the Mississippi Free Press on March 18. Other local attractions like the Paradise Ranch RV Resort in Tylertown also sustained devastating damage, he said.
“There are some (houses) where, literally, there’s nothing left,” Myers explained. “Then in addition to housing, you have some people’s vehicles (also) destroyed.”
Until additional help arrives, Walthall County residents and employees say they will continue to assist affected Mississippians and fill gaps in the local social-safety net.
“There’s so few things in life that are rewarding anymore,” Brandy Williams, Thomas’ colleague at the pharmacy, said on March 18. “We can’t feed everyone, and we can’t reach everyone, but we can get to who we can and try our best.”
An Unsettled Road to Recovery
Mississippi has leaned on volunteers and organizations to weather the immediate aftermath of the tornadoes, but its long-term recovery plans hinge on obtaining disaster aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FEMA requires states to conduct comprehensive damage assessments to qualify for its Individual Assistance, which offers housing grants, low-cost loans and other resources directly to disaster victims. Further appraisals are needed to qualify for its Public Assistance Program, which provides local governments with funding for debris removal and infrastructure rebuilds.
State and county officials have spent the past two weeks carrying out these evaluations and getting them verified by FEMA, clearing the way for the governor to formally request federal aid earlier this week, MEMA’s Eric Bullard said. A full list of the counties that could become eligible for assistance is available on the agency’s website.
“We’ve done our part … and we’ve sent the request to the president—that’s all we can do,” Bullard told the Mississippi Free Press on April 1. “If and when we do get a federal declaration, we would encourage everyone to go ahead and apply for federal assistance.”
Should the White House approve Reeves’ request, FEMA will set up disaster recovery centers in Mississippi where staff can assist residents on a case-by-case basis, Bullard explained. Residents will also be able to seek help via a telephone hotline and online portals.
“It’ll become a federal program at that point,” Bullard said, adding that MEMA would continue to support recovery efforts and provide services to Mississippians at the state and county levels.
Bullard’s comments come after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling on states to “play a more active and significant role” in handling natural disasters.
Since taking power in January, Trump has fired hundreds of FEMA employees and floated eliminating the agency entirely—part of a broader push to curb federal spending and shift disaster management over to state and local governments.
While visiting hurricane-ravaged North Carolina in January, Trump floated the idea of “getting rid of FEMA” entirely.
“I’d like to see the states take care of disasters,” the president said on Jan. 24, 2025. “Let the state take care of the tornadoes and the hurricanes and all of the other things that happen.”
His administration has also called for a sweeping review of disaster relief programs that could be assisting undocumented migrants, Politico reported in March.
As climate change increases the severity and frequency of natural disasters across the U.S., environmental policy experts warn that federal support under the new administration is not guaranteed.
“Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, regardless of who you voted for or what state you live in, nobody should feel particularly assured that FEMA is coming to their assistance in your time of need,” Rob Moore, a senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told NPR following FEMA’s staffing cuts last month.
Even if FEMA aid comes through, Bullard says Mississippi will keep looking to its residents to plug holes in the government’s response.
“Not everybody is going to be able to get that federal assistance,” he said. “There may be some kind of gap in there somewhere.”
