Hundreds of thousands of Chickens killed by tornado in Mississippi, America

Shocking pictures emerging from a Mississippi poultry farm torn to splinters by a tornado show the staggering extent of the damage.

About 220,000 dead chickens were tossed Monday from eight aluminum and wood structures built to house them on Charlie and Cindy Wilkes’ Noxapater farm – they are now littered all over the property.

The rotting chickens are now filling the massive Tyson-affiliated farm with an unbearably pungent odor, the devastated farm owners said.

The ones that survived could be seen walking among dead birds Wednesday morning, picking at the ground as workers from Tyson Foods tried to corral them.

Cindy Wilkes said the tornado struck at the family livelihood, but she feels blessed she and her loved ones survived. She, her husband and their two daughters said prayers as the tornado rolled through their home, hidden in an underground storm shelter.

‘We’ve lost our farm and we lost our home, but we’re alive,’ she said.

The storm badly damaged the home and nearly pulled their shelter from the ground. Pieces of aluminum, dangling in trees, were once the frames of the long, rectangular chicken houses.

One of many: The farm raises broilers for Tyson and each house has 28,500 chickens, it is one of several contracted by Tyson in the state

Torn apart: Ventilation fans sit on the ground behind the remains of the Hartness Farms

Ray Ables, a production manager for Tyson, said he has never seen a farm as large as the Wilkes’ suffer so much damage. He said Tyson, which has about 1,500 chicken houses in Mississippi, will help with the cleanup and hopes to work with the Wilkes when they rebuild.

The Wilkes have a contract with Tyson, which supplies the chickens and collects live birds for processing before it’s sold to Tyson’s customers.

Area farm owners estimate that about 30 chicken houses were damaged or destroyed, along with vehicles, offices and the houses and mobile homes of those who live there.

Cindy Wilkes got a call from a man in Columbus, about 50 miles away. He found a stub from one of the Wilkes’ business checks blown into his yard.

It could take months, but the Wilkes have insurance and plan to rebuild.

Charlie Wilkes estimates his loss at about $1.5 million in chicken houses alone.

On Wednesday, Tyson workers wore blue protective suits and clear, boot-like shoe coverings as they walked among the chicken carcasses. The live birds would be put down humanely and buried along with the dead fowl and debris of the chicken houses, Cindy Wilkes said.

A couple of miles away from the Wilkes Farm, Terry Hartness described how the tornado came in from the west and decimated 12 chicken houses there. Hartness sold the farm, which he had owned for about 14 years, on Friday. That was just three days before the tornado hit.