U.S.

Dangerous storms moved into parts of the South on Sunday, two days after tornadoes gutted towns and left more than two dozen people dead. Updates.

     

A fifth body has been recovered from the site of a powerful explosion at a chocolate factory in a small town in eastern Pennsylvania and two remained unaccounted for Sunday. 

West Reading Mayor Samantha Kaag said in an email to the Associated Press that the fifth body was found Sunday morning by first responders and confirmed dead by the Berks County Coroner’s Office. The coroner was unable to confirm the identity of that person, Kaag said. 

West Reading Borough Chief of Police Wayne Holben confirmed the body of a fourth victim was found under debris early Sunday at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant in the borough of West Reading, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia. 

Holben asked for continued prayers from the community and vowed that rescuers and officials “will not rest until every single person affected by this tragedy has been accounted for” from the blast that occurred just before 5 p.m. Friday. 

Rescue crews have been using heat imaging equipment and dogs to search for possible survivors after the blast destroyed one building and damaged a neighboring building. Crews were now using heavy equipment to methodically and carefully pull debris from the site, Holben said. 

Borough Fire Chief Chad Moyer said Saturday night that the chance of finding survivors was “decreasing rapidly” due to the explosion’s force and the amount of time that had passed. Kaag said officials were “still hopeful to at least get some answers and get some recoveries so that people have that reassurance and that closure.” 

“We’re just trying to hold out as much hope as we can to get the right answers, to get quality answers, to get information to those that are affected and then let it go over to the investigation,” Kaag said. 

Officials said they had no update on the condition of a woman pulled alive from the rubble early Saturday. Kaag said she had apparently been on the second floor and was found in a “hopeful circumstance,” calling out to rescuers despite her injuries after a dog located her. 

Officials also reported no updates on the conditions of those taken to hospitals. Reading Hospital said it received 10 patients and transferred two to other facilities, while two others were admitted in good and fair condition respectively and the others had been discharged. 

R.M. Palmer said in a statement Saturday afternoon that everyone at the company was “devastated” and it was reaching out to employees and their families through first responders and disaster recovery organizations because its communication systems were down. 

Kaag, a volunteer firefighter herself, said rescue crews had been working 12- to 16-hour shifts and were so dedicated to continuing the search that “you have to pull them away at this point” to swap out and get some rest. 

Gov. Josh Shapiro visited the site Saturday and vowed support from the state. 

Kaag said some residents have reported damage to windows from the blast, and she asked people to “take a walk around your house” and report any damage. 

State and local fire investigators are continuing to examine the scene to try to determine the cause of the blast. 

Some parts of Twitter’s source code — the fundamental computer code on which the social network runs — were leaked online, the social media company said in a legal filing on Sunday that was first reported by The New York Times. 

According to the legal document, filed with the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, Twitter had asked GitHub, an internet hosting service for software development, to take down the code where it was posted. The platform complied and said the content had been disabled, according to the filing. Twitter also asked the court to identify the alleged infringer or infringers who posted Twitter’s source code on systems operated by GitHub without Twitter’s authorization. 

Twitter, based in San Francisco, noted in the filing that the postings infringe copyrights held by Twitter. 

The leak creates more challenges for billionaire Elon Musk, who bought Twitter last October for $44 billion and took the company private. Since then, it has been engulfed in chaos, with massive layoffs and advertisers fleeing. 

Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission is probing Musk’s mass layoffs at Twitter and trying to obtain his internal communications as part of ongoing oversight into the social media company’s privacy and cybersecurity practices, according to documents described in a congressional report. 

Kiefer Sutherland wanted to play corporate espionage operative John Weir in “Rabbit Hole” because the character is plunged from a position of great power to one of extreme jeopardy.

As a deadly tornado tore through the lower Mississippi Delta, the Rev. Mary Stewart clung to a door in the hallway of her Rolling Fork home, shielding herself from the branches and chunks of debris that came flying through her shattered windows.

Friday’s storm flattened entire town blocks, but the Rolling Fork Methodist Church withstood the high winds. And so, the first Sunday after the twister would commence just like any other Sunday — with congregants reaffirming their faith and finding solace together.

“We are a very religious community,” said Laura Allmon, a fourth-generation congregant. “It just means a lot for us to be able to get together and pray and be thankful for what we have.”

At least 26 people were killed, and dozens of others were injured late Friday in Mississippi as the storm ripped through one of the poorest regions in the country, leaving a swath of destruction in its wake.

With their homes unlivable, many Rolling Fork residents flocked Sunday to the network of churches dotting their rural Southern town of about 2,000, where agriculture and faith shape local life.

Founded nearly 135 years ago, the Rolling Fork Methodist Church has long been a source of support and resilience in hard times, its members said.

“So many people here know patience from farm work,” Stewart said. “With their dependence on the rain for their crops — their livelihood — and having to leave it in God’s hands … it’s a wonderful reaffirmation that God is in control.”

Since the church building was without power Sunday morning, roughly two dozen worshipers gathered on its historic steps and bowed their heads while Stewart delivered a short sermon.

“We’re grateful, Lord, that you brought us through this storm,” she said, standing in the sunshine beneath a clear blue sky. “We have a lot to do and a lot of rebuilding, and there are people that we’ve lost in our town. … We pray for their families.”

Elsewhere, President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi early Sunday, making federal funding available to the hardest hit areas.

Based on early data, the tornado received a preliminary EF-4 rating, with top wind gusts between 166 mph and 200 mph (265 kph and 320 kph), according to the National Weather Service office in Jackson. Officials said the twister was on the ground for more than an hour.

Watch related video by Arash Arabasadi:

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves issued a state of emergency and vowed to help rebuild as he viewed the damage in the region, which boasts wide expanses of cotton, corn and soybean fields and catfish farming ponds. He spoke with Biden, who also held a call with the state’s congressional delegation.

More than a half-dozen shelters were opened in Mississippi to house displaced residents.

Just a few blocks down the road from the Rolling Fork Methodist Church, pastor Britt Williamson spoke from the pulpit at First Baptist Church, addressing rows of weary congregants. During the service, attendees hugged, shook hands and wiped away tears.

“The Delta is a hard soul for the gospel,” Williamson said. “Through the calamity of what happened, God has brought a plow bigger than any of these farmers could have.”

He said faith gives people something to hold onto during life’s challenges.

“We don’t want to help people just to give them a place to live. We don’t want to feed them for a day,” he said. “We want to give them an eternal home.”

Marlon Nicholas, a congregant of the church, said his family’s attendance at a local high school prom Friday night meant they stayed safe even as their home was destroyed. He said other relatives also lost their homes but escaped without serious injuries.

“Miracles,” he said.