At least 23 dead after tornadoes tear through Mississippi

A father and his little girl were among at least 23 people killed when tornadoes swept through Mississippi Friday night, officials said.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency confirmed the death toll in a tweet early Saturday. It said that dozens had been injured and four people were missing after “last night’s tornadoes.” It did not say how many tornadoes struck.

“Unfortunately, these numbers are expected to change,” the agency said in a second tweet.

Among the dead were a man and his daughter, who were killed in the house they were sheltering in with his wife and two other children, Monroe County Coroner Alan Gurley told NBC News.

He added that their bodies had been found at the property in Wren, a large unincorporated community around 180 miles north of Jackson. The man's wife and two other children were taken to the hospital, he added.

Elsewhere, Sharkey County Coroner Angelia Eason said there had been 13 weather-related deaths in Rolling Fork, a small town with a population of about 1,800 people in western Mississippi.

“The damage is tremendous,” she said. “It’s awful.”

The coroner's office in Carroll County also confirmed that three people were found dead in a destroyed house, while in Humphreys County, coroner Samuel Irving said two men had died as a result of a tornado in Silver City, a community of around 220 that's about 30 miles east of Rolling Fork.

None of the victims have been named.

“It appears from the damage that I’ve been able to assess at this point it was a large tornado — and it has destroyed the city of Rolling Fork,” Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker told NBC affiliate WLBT of Jackson by phone, adding that the damage was extensive.

Searches for trapped people were also reported in Silver City,

The National Weather Service warned of a confirmed tornado on the ground headed toward Rolling Fork around 8:05 p.m.

A “tornado emergency,” a term used when there is a severe threat to life, catastrophic damage, and when reliable sources have confirmed a tornado, according to the weather service, had been issued for Rolling Fork and other areas, the weather service said.

In an earlier alert that didn’t mince words the weather service proclaimed: “To protect your life, TAKE COVER NOW!”