he tornado that ripped through a Mississippi town Friday night was the kind that fills meteorologists with dread — a storm with a dangerous mix of ingredients hitting the wrong place at the wrong time.

At least 26 deaths have been reported in Mississippi and Alabama after a dozen tornadoes tore through the two states. Half of the deaths occurred in the Delta town of Rolling Fork, where a violent tornado with a nearly 60-mile path struck a predominantly Black community; roughly 21% of residents there live in poverty.

“The stage was set for disaster long before the tornado ever formed,” said Stephen Strader, an associate professor of geography and the environment at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

Strader said societal factors collided with climatological ones to create a worst-case scenario in Rolling Fork. 

The prevalence of mobile homes and manufactured housing made the town of about 2,000 people particularly vulnerable to extreme weather. On average, 54% of tornado-related fatalities are in mobile homes, according to the National Weather Service. People who seek shelter in mobile homes are also 15 to 20 times more likely to be killed compared to those who take refuge in permanent homes.

Angelia Eason, coroner for Sharkey County, where Rolling Fork is located, said eight of the town’s 13 deaths involved people in mobile homes.