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Major Storms in Mississippi, US
JACKSON, Mississippi, Feb 25, Strong storms killed 7 people in northern Mississippi and damaged numerous buildings in Arkansas and Mississippi, spotting tornados authorities said Sunday.
"There's damage to subdivisions, homes, businesses. We've had two churches destroyed," said Amy Bissell, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Pontotoc County Sheriff Leo Mask said 30 to 40 people were injured and 250 to 300 homes were damaged. "A lot were destroyed," he said. Mask said the storm cut a path nearly 24 miles long and between 100 yards and 3/4-mile wide.
Though electric power was knocked out for much of the county overnight, by Sunday afternoon it had largely been restored, said Bissell. Heavy damage was also reported in Lee, Tallahatchie and Prentis counties. The National Weather Service said the Mississippi tornado was 100 to 200 yards wide and was on the ground in Pontotoc County for about 23 miles. "Mostly, we have roof damage being reported, trees uprooted," Bissell said.
One 18-month-old boy in Arkansas died Sunday of his injuries, local authorities reported.
The storms in Mississippi hit after at least 15 people were injured and about 80 homes and businesses were heavily damaged or destroyed by tornadoes and strong storms that swept through central Arkansas, that state's emergency management agency reported.
Power was knocked out by Saturday's storms to about 18,000 customers of Entergy, a power company, Arkansas emergency management said.
"We've got approximately 25 homes that were either majorly damaged or destroyed," said Kathy Botsford, the director of emergency management in Pulaski County, where Little Rock is located. Eight of the 15 injuries were in Pulaski County, she said.
Botsford said information on the storms, including how many tornadoes touched down, is preliminary. "At this point, we're working with the Red Cross on conducting damage assessment and seeing where we're going to go from here," she said.
Bissell said that while some Mississippi counties do employ weather-warning systems, she did not know if the counties hit by Saturday's storms had such systems in place.
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