2025 Kentwood–Carson tornado

During the early afternoon hours of Saturday, March 15, 2025, a large, violent, and deadly EF4 tornado devastated areas in and around the Mississippi communities of Tylertown, Salem, Society Hill, and Carson, causing severe damage in multiple areas. Over the course of 1 hour and 20 minutes, the tornado, sometimes known as either the Kentwood–Carson tornado or informally the Kentwood, LA to Darbun, MS Tornado by the National Weather Service (NWS), killed six people and injured at least ten along a path 67.16 miles (108.08 km) long. It was part of a larger tornado outbreak spanning from March 13–16, 2025, and the third of eight tornadoes to be rated EF4/F4 or higher during the year of 2025, with the NWS offices in New Orleans/Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Jackson, Mississippi observing that the tornado attained maximum winds of 170 mph (270 km/h), giving it a rating of low-end EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

The tornado began in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana at 12:17 p.m. CDT, causing EF1 damage to trees and structures before entering Pike County, Mississippi. There, the tornado caused widespread tree damage, damaged outbuildings and houses, and blew away manufactured homes, reaching EF2 intensity as it approached and entered Walthall County, upon which the tornado struck the Paradise Ranch RV resort, destroying all of its cabins and over 200 campsites. Passing to the northwest of Tylertown, the tornado rapidly intensified and briefly reached EF4 intensity as it destroyed a well-built two story home and obliterated multiple manufactured homes nearby. Continuing northeastwards, the tornado fluctuated between EF2-EF3 intensity, continuing to cause widespread tree damage and more isolated damage to structures, killing three people to the northwest of Darbun before entering Marion County. There, the tornado damaged or destroyed numerous homes and caused major tree damage, striking the Whitebluff area at EF3 intensity and entering Jefferson Davis County shortly thereafter, where it damaged or destroyed multiple structures, including a manufactured home in which two more people were killed. Continuing into Covington County, the tornado damaged trees and structures, including a well-built wood home that received an EF4 rating as it shrank and occluded. The tornado dissipated at 1:39 p.m. CDT to the southwest of Collins. As the tornado was ongoing, a separate EF3 tornado formed and moved a nearly identical path through parts of Walthall and Marion counties, adding to the damages and causing an additional fatality.

Immediately following the tornado, recovery efforts were intensive, but many of the areas affected were left without disaster relief for months following the storm. Walthall County alone spent around $700,000 (2025 USD) on cleanup efforts alone, but were forced to cease their operations for over a month as the county could not afford to spend anymore without assurance that it would receive federal reimbursement under a disaster declaration. Multiple other Mississippi counties were left without federal aid for over two months following the storms.