A tornado touched down in Mississippi and moved to Alabama, destroying buildings and knocking out power. The death toll continues to rise, officials say.

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Tornadoes left a trail of destruction across rural Mississippi overnight Friday, killing at least 23 people, razing buildings and plunging thousands of homes into darkness.

On Saturday, President Joe Biden called the devastation “heartbreaking” as search and rescue efforts continued and survivor accounts emerged, including restaurant employees who huddled in a refrigerator to survive.

In addition to the dead, dozens of people were injured and four were missing in the wake of a spate of tornadoes, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency confirmed Saturday morning. Crews also began damage assessments Saturday, the agency said. The death toll may continue to climb, according to the agency.

Much of the worst impacts spawned from a storm that carved a devastating path northeastward across Mississippi and Alabama, according to AccuWeather. The rural towns of Silver City and Rolling Fork, about 60 miles northeast of Jackson, Mississippi, bore the brunt of damage from a tornado.

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