The small delta community of Silver City is leveled, leaving 3 dead

SILVER CITY, Miss. (WLBT) - It’s hard to say they’re picking up the pieces after the tornado hit Silver City, because there aren’t many pieces left in the small community.

In the South Delta area, almost everybody knows each other and those who died.

Mounds of wood are all that are left of many homes on Jackson Street in Silver City, a small community where three people lost their lives.

“Our hometown is gone,” said Silver City tornado victim Pebbles Oltremari. “Our whole lives here are destroyed.”

The tornado survivor fought back tears as she recalls the terrifying night the EF4 tornado leveled her community and claimed the life of her friend and neighbor.

“I knew Rob Lee that passed away that was covering his wife,” said Oltremari. “I’ve known him, and it breaks my heart that we lost him. And this has been really bad, and I’ve been an emotional wreck ever since.”

She is among the 200 residents in the small Humphrey’s County community. Nearly every home in the area was destroyed or heavily damaged and left unlivable.

The 58-year-old and her daughter prayed while the twister plowed through the neighborhood sending debris into the house and shattering windows.

“You could hear the sound of it and feel the vibration of it shaking and I could feel the pressure of the house moving,” said the shaken homeowner. “And I really thought the roof was gonna come off our home, but it didn’t.”

Her 93-year-old mother’s home next door wasn’t so lucky. It was destroyed. Like many families in this disaster, they are salvaging what little is left.

“It just don’t feel the same anymore here,” added Oltremari.

The family home where her father was born was destroyed and sits in a mangled heap just yards from her mother’s front porch.

Oltremari and her daughter were trapped in the house on Plum Street for hours until her son was finally able to rescue them.

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