Severe Storms, Tornadoes Blast US Southeast
Pastor Dale Morgan
Severe Storms, Tornadoes Blast US Southeast*
By Jay Reeves, Associated Press Writer
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Strong winds in northwest Alabama overturned a mobile
home on Thursday and a tornado damaged a Mississippi shopping mall as a
line of severe storms swept across the Southeast.
No injuries were reported, but forecasters warned the weather could get
worse as temperatures climbed in the afternoon.
In northwest Alabama, there were no confirmed reports of tornadoes but
winds gusting up to 60 mph also damaged a house and a building in a
rural area, said George Grabryan, emergency management director in
Lauderdale County. At least 15 Alabama school systems released students
early.
Portions of northwest Alabama and a number of northeast Mississippi
counties were under tornado watches or warnings until midafternoon Thursday.
Authorities received reports of fallen trees and debris across northeast
Mississippi, and officials were dispatched to check out the damage at a
shopping mall in Tupelo, Miss., about 160 miles northeast of Jackson.
Trees tangled with power lines, crisscrossing one road near a fast-food
restaurant and a grocery store.
A motel manager driving to work saw that the area had been hit by severe
weather.
"There were trees down and stuff blown around on Gloster, the main
street near the mall," said Dimple Patel, who works about two miles from
the Barnes Crossing Mall. "All the lights were out and store people were
hanging around outside — even people at the gas station."
The sheriff's office there said officers spotted a possible tornado
moving in and out of the clouds, possibly containing debris. Weather
officials have not yet confirmed the storm was a twister.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation said several buildings at a
district office in Tupelo were damaged. The agency reported downed
trees, roof damage and no electricity.
Forecasters said strong winds along the coast could generate rip
currents along the beaches, but the main threat was hail, damaging winds
and isolated tornadoes. The system was expected to stall over north
Alabama, giving much of the eastern part of the state a 20% chance of rain.
The low-pressure weather system struck Oklahoma a day earlier, weather
officials said.
Experts there picked through debris and damage Thursday to determine
whether tornadoes touched down after severe storms moved through the
state, toppling trees and knocking out power to thousands of people.
A tornado reported near the southern Oklahoma town of Paoli apparently
picked up a mobile home off the ground with a woman and her son inside,
said Garvin County Emergency Management Director Buck Pearson.
The woman, Cindy Ward, suffered some broken toes and was bruised, but
the boy was uninjured, Pearson said.
Ward managed to get her son into an interior closet just before the
storm hit the home. A family member dug them out of the wreckage,
Pearson said.
"It's pretty spooky to be sitting there relying on the TV and then your
house gets picked up," Pearson said.
As the storms hit Wednesday with thunderstorms, high winds, hail and
heavy rain, Shaydestiny Johnson, 16, and her grandmother rushed into the
bathroom in their suburban home in western Oklahoma County when they saw
the balcony patio fall.
"You could feel the house shaking," said Johnson, of Bethany. "Pictures
were falling off the wall. I was shaking."
The possible twister spun up over western Oklahoma County as severe
storms moved through during the afternoon rush hour. At least one injury
was reported when a woman broke her leg trying to get to a storm shelter
in Bethany, authorities said.
About 14,000 customers lost power at the height of the storm.