LOUIN, Miss. (AP) — Multiple tornadoes swept across Mississippi overnight, killing one and injuring nearly two dozen, officials said Monday.
State rescue workers were still working with counties to assess damage from storms, which saw high temperatures and hail in some areas accompanied by tornadoes. The death and injuries were reported by officials in Jasper County, eastern Mississippi.
The small, rural town of Louin bore the brunt of the damage. Drone footage and photos showed much of the site covered in debris, houses decimated and trees mutilated. At least one person was lifted out of the rubble on a stretcher.
Standing outside his damaged home on Monday, Lester Campbell told The Associated Press that his cousin, 67-year-old George Jean Hayes, was the deceased. Jones County Coroner Don Sumrall was reached by phone Monday and said Hayes was pronounced dead at 2:18 a.m. of “multisystem trauma.”
Campbell fell asleep in his armchair on Sunday night. He was woken up around midnight after the lights went out. After he went to the kitchen to get something from the fridge, a tornado ensued.
“It happened so quickly,” Campbell said. “It was like a train noise, a ‘roar, roar, roar’.”
He dropped to the floor and crawled to his bedroom closet, where his wife had already taken refuge. When he reached the closet, the tornado was over.
Campbell said he heard calls for help across the street from where Hayes was staying in a trailer. As he was leaving his home, he was met by emergency workers who were carrying his cousin to an ambulance with a bloody forehead and leg. She was conscious and talking when he saw her, but died before reaching the hospital, he said.
Most of the injured in Jasper County, including Hayes, were transported to South Central Regional Medical Center in Laurel between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., said Becky Collins, a spokeswoman for the facility. About 20 people had bruises and cuts. Most were in stable condition as of Monday morning.
Eric Carpenter, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, said an unusually strong jet stream swept through the area for the time of year. A tornado originated near Louin before moving at least 7 miles south to Bay Springs.
Tornadoes typically hit Mississippi in early to mid-spring. Carpenter called the timing of the tornadoes “a very unusual situation,” along with continued thunder and hail and high temperatures.
“It’s a different game here,” Carpenter said. “What we would normally see in March and April, we see in June.”
On March 24, a violent tornado cut a path of destruction through parts of western and northern Mississippi, killing at least 26 people and damaging thousands of homes. Some cities in the rural, impoverished Mississippi Delta face a daunting task in rebuilding.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday’s tornadoes also hit Rankin County, which borders the capital Jackson. Emergency responders conducted search and rescue and damage assessments, and deployed drones in some areas where vehicles could not reach them due to power line failures.
On Monday afternoon, another possible tornado hit the southern Mississippi town of Moss Point. Photos showed houses with destroyed roofs and crooked power lines. As high winds and heavy rain swept Jackson County, WLOX-TV reported that eight people were trapped in a bench in downtown Moss Point. They were later rescued unharmed. A flash flood warning was still in effect for the county on Monday.
In a press release Monday, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said more than 49,000 homes in central Mississippi were without power. Tens of thousands of people in Hinds County, the state’s most populous area, were still without power Monday morning after fierce winds raged across the state early Friday.
Reeves said the state is opening command centers and shelters for those displaced by the storm.
After fleeing his home Monday morning, Campbell returned to assess the damage. When he arrived he found half the roof destroyed, the garage destroyed and the windows shattered. Compared to his neighbors, he felt lucky.
“Most of the houses are gone. They will be demolished. “You’re done,” Campbell said.
Goldberg is a corps member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover undercover topics. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mikergoldberg.
