ROLLING FORK, Miss. \u2014 A massive tornado obliterated the modest one-story home that Kimberly Berry shared with her two daughters in the Mississippi Delta flatlands, leaving only a foundation and some random belongings \u2014 a toppled refrigerator, a dresser and matching nightstand, a bag of Christmas decorations, some clothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the storm Friday<\/a>, Berry and her 12-year-old daughter huddled and prayed at a nearby church that was barely damaged, while her 25-year-old daughter survived in the hard-hit town of Rolling Fork<\/a>, some 15 miles (24 kilometers) away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Berry shook her head as she looked at the remains of their material possessions. She said she\u2019s grateful she and her children are still alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can get all this back. It\u2019s nothing,\u201d said Berry, 46, who works as a supervisor at a catfish growing and processing operation. \u201cI\u2019m not going to get depressed about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like many people in this economically struggling area, she faces an uncertain future. Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the U.S., and the majority-Black Delta has long been one of the poorest parts of Mississippi \u2014 a place where many people work paycheck to paycheck in jobs tied to agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two of the counties walloped by the tornado<\/a>, Sharkey and Humphreys, are among the most sparsely populated in the state, with only a few thousand residents in communities scattered across wide expanses of cotton, corn and soybean fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sharkey’s poverty rate<\/a> is 35%, and Humphreys’ is 33%, compared to about 19% for Mississippi and under 12% for the entire United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt’s going to be a long road to recovery, trying to rebuild and get over the devastation,\u201d Wayne Williams, who teaches construction skills at a vocational education center in Rolling Fork, said Sunday as people across town hammered blue tarps onto damaged roofs and used chainsaws to cut fallen trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n