By Carol Forsloff and Salim Jiwa From: Vancouverite.com
JACKSON, Mississippi – A mile wide tornado ripped through several counties in Mississippi while other areas were pelted with hail the size of golf balls – and some said the size of tennis balls - causing at least 10 deaths and leaving behind a path of destruction that has sent 21 people to hospital.
Law enforcement agencies in several counties reported to the national weather office their areas were pelted with half-inch to more than one-inch sized hail stones, blasted by high winds and struck by tornadoes that have overturn rail cars, blown cars off the highways, caused widespread damage to homes, sheds, power lines and petroleum storage tanks.
“The most destructive storm of the day developed over northern Louisiana during the mid to late morning hours. The first report of damage was received shortly after 11 a.m. near the city of Tallulah. From that point, things only got worse as the supercell tracked from west to east across the entire state of Mississippi,” said the latest bulletin from the weather office.
“Along the way, it produced significant damage in several locations including the Eagle Lake area of Warren County, Valley Park in Issaquena County, Satartia and Yazoo City in Yazoo County, Ebenezer and Durant in Holmes County, north of Kosciusko near Hesterville in Attala County, French Camp and Chester in Choctaw County, north of Starkville in Oktibbeha County, and east of West Point in Clay County. Multiple fatalities and injuries were reported in association with the storm, and several structures were damaged or destroyed,” it said.
“Later in the evening hours, additional storms lingered over portions of east central Mississippi. Large hail was reported with some of these storms, including hail to the size of tennis balls in southern Lowndes County. One storm northwest of Meridian produced an apparent tornado along the Lauderdale-Kemper County line. Several trees were downed and some minor structural damage was reported in the area.
On Interstate 55, cars were blown off the road, trees and wires and signs came down, the weather office said.
In Satartia a home was destroyed and people were trapped inside, said a report sent to the weather service.
In Warren, 30 homes were flattened according to 911 calls.
"NEAR THE BEAR LAKE COMMUNITY, NUMEROUS INJURIES. 12 TANK
CARS TURNED OVER. GROUND STORAGE CHEMICAL TANKS DESTROYED"
Mississipi Governor Haley Barbour declared a State Of Emergency and inducted the state national guard into action to help storm ravaged communities in Choctaw, Yazoo and Holmes counties which reported the combined death toll of 10 and possibly more.
Several state highways remained closed, according to the latest bulletin from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, MEMA.
Warning were issued early Saturday to residents of Louisiana and Mississippi to be on the alert for dangerous storms – but no one had expected to face a mile-wide tornado and what the weather office termed as tennis ball sized hail.
Five deaths were reported in Choctaw County, four deaths in Yazoo County and one death in Holmes County. There are a reported twenty-one residents who were injured in the storm and taken to hospitals.
The State of Mississippi’s Emergency Management System reports damages in the following counties: Attala: Major damage to nine homes with numerous trees and power lines down. Choctaw: Homes, trees and power lines down. Desoto: Damage to some buildings, trees and power lines down. Holmes: Trees down. Issaquena: Damage to buildings, trees and power lines. Jasper: Homes damaged and trees down. Lamar: Some damage to structures. Lauderdale: Church damaged trees and power lines down. Monroe: Damages reported. Simpson: Trees and power lines down. Union: Homes damaged trees and power lines down. Warren: 30 homes damaged and two roads closed due to downed trees and power lines. One shelter open. Yazoo: Homes and businesses damaged widespread damage to trees and downed power lines.
A number of highways in Yazoo and Holmes counties have been damaged. Trees have fallen across several highways resulting in the closure of Mississippi Highway 433.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation officials report that several highways in Yazoo and Holmes counties received major damage and trees down across several highways due to severe weather that swept across the state reports the following road closures: Mississippi Highway 433
Governor Barbour issued the following statement referencing the impact of the storms in Mississippi: “Our prayers are with those families who have been impacted by this dangerous line of storms that traveled through the state. The effects of these storms have left many Mississippians with destroyed businesses and without homes.”
Search and rescue operations teams have been set up in Hattiesburg.
A tornado watch continues for Rome and Floyd County until 3 a.m. EDT Sunday morning.
At 8:02 p.m. EDT, the National Weather Service Doppler Radar indicated a persistent band of strong thunderstorms from Cartersville to Lindale to Cave Spring and further southwest into Alabama.
There were also reports of flooding in the streets in Little Rock, Arkansas.
........................................................Revelation 16:21And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
Isaiah 55:6Make search for the Lord while he is there, make prayer to him while he is near:Isaiah 55:7Let the sinner give up his way, and the evil-doer his purpose: and let him come back to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for there is full forgiveness with him.
John 3:16For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life
God bless you!
