AP text reporters Emily Wagster Pettus and Michael Goldberg, video journalist Robert Bumsted and photographers Julio Cortez and Rogelio Solis provided the most comprehensive, on-the-ground coverage of a massive tornado strike in rural Mississippi, taking the world to places like Rolling Fork and Silver City to detail the devastating, harrowing stories of survival and resiliency of residents.
Wagster Pettus, Goldberg and Solis arrived early Saturday, and with Bumstead and Cortez still en route, video shot on the reporters’ cell phones kept AP out front until we were able to establish a live and put up a drone. The first-day story received nearly 290,000 page views on APNews.com, and the follow-up stories also brought in tens of thousands of readers. Videos of the disaster dominated weekend member usage.
AP captures devastation in wake of massive tornado strike in the Mississippi Delta
Tracy Hardin, center, who with her husband Tim, left, own Chuck's Dairy Bar, consoles a neighbor in Rolling Fork, Miss., March 25, 2023. The couple and their six employees were hiding in the cooler when the tornado hit.
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis