Tornadoes in North MS
 

Ya'll, we've been hit real hard with tornadoes over the past 48 hours. This afternoon was especially vicious. We have dead in Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Itawamba Counties with lots of missing. Smithville has been decimated. They're projecting folks will be without power for up to a week in some areas. My town had baseball size hail and falling debris from where the tornado dropped things as it passed over (above ground). There's also wide spread flooding from the heavy rain

I lost my gazebo, some shingles, window shutters, and patio furniture. Also the post was knocked out on the corner of my carport. I still have power, etc.

One of the saddest things was a Covington police officer was camping in a tent with his daughter. The tornado dropped a huge oak on them. He was able to shield her with his body, but he died of massive head injuries.

I just saw the BBC report on this. wow and ouch. glad you are ok.

Baseball-sized? did you keep one?

I read about him this afternoon. I'm so sorry. :sniff: I'm glad to hear you're okay though. There were alot of deaths because of these tornadoes.

OMG, thats awful. That poor girl. There is nothing that can be said to express how horrible that must be for her and the family.

I'm glad you're OK.

Crazy weather this Spring. Stay safe folks.

more devastation

How awful. Glad you're ok Sarge.

I'll play echo and say I'm also glad you are ok, sarge.

FWIW, I have given both my sons strict instructions about never wanting to see either of them on tee vee, describing the tornado.

eta: this is what I mean:

"If you've been on television more than five times describing what the tornado sounded like. ..." -Jeff Foxworthy

:D

Sarge, I'm sorry your location got hit so hard.

I hate weather like this. I cleaned out the corner of the basement under the stairs where I imagine we'll go if it gets bad enough. The tornadoes here were much smaller and fortunately passed about 10 miles to the south of me.

It bothers me the most when the storms are forecast for after midnight. I wonder if I should stay awake so I can follow their path, or if i should just go to bed, knowing the odds are that they will pass either to the north or south of me. Times like this, I envy friends of mine that have guest bedrooms in the basement. It would be great to just go sleep down there and not worry.

I have really no where to go in case of tornado. So I just think "meh, here I is if'n you want me." But last night I did bother to scan across the road to see if there was a ditch with any substance. I don't think going down the levee by the swollen river would be safe.

But my hamburgers are always safe.

damn that sucks sarge! sorry about all the devastation. glad you're ok!

Glad to hear you are ok sarge.

Everyone else check out this video.

http://www.cbs42.com/content/localne...lvteTFy6A.cspx

Tornadoes scare the crap out of me. I'm glad everyone in the affected states here are all okay! If you have noplace else to go in a tornado, grab your mattress, get in the bathtub and pull the mattress over you. Everybody stay safe!

What if you have a water bed?

Sofa cushions.

Humor?

It's a bath tub. Perfect for holding water. No worries.

Sarge, I'm really sorry to hear that.
Dad picked me up from the supermarket this afternoon and I heard the tailend of a news report. I asked, "Where was that?" and he said, "Oh storms in America somewhere."

I didn't realise it was anywhere near you.
I forget I'm a global citizen sometimes.

Much love and support to yo0u and those you know.

More news:

SMITHVILLE – The death toll is expected to rise today after a devastating tornado Wednesday left this north Monroe County community in shambles.

“People are walking around in shock with broken arms and all sorts of injuries, and folks are looking for their loved ones,” said Marsha Houck, a nurse practitioner who, like many volunteers, walked into the devastation along state Highway 25 and started helping in any way she could.

The tornado, which struck about 3:45 p.m., was part of an unprecedented round of tornadic activity that crossed the region and headed into Alabama and Georgia. And while communities throughout Mississippi were affected, none felt the fury the way Smithville did.

Early unofficial reports indicated that as many as 12 people could be dead, and the degree of destruction indicated that the number could go higher.

No building along a mile-long stretch through town was unaffected, and most were destroyed.

More than 15 volunteer fire departments were on the scene late Wednesday, along with EMS and law enforcement from throughout Northeast Mississippi. The roads were barely passable, and as the rain continued to fall, firefighters gathered in a service shed and received their orders from Chief Scott Morgan of the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department. Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson and a crew of deputies and inmates were among the ones assigned to search for survivors and recover the dead. Johnson said his crew found five bodies while digging through the rubble. Homes with bodies in them were marked with two orange Xs.

“A small utility shed beside a water tower served as a temporary morgue, and inside, as of 7 p.m., three bodies lay wrapped in black bags and personnel said more were almost certain to come.

The storm was part of a rash of tornadoes that swept the region Wednesday, carving a path of destruction that broke both bodies and buildings.

In addition to the Monroe County fatalities, weather-related deaths in north Mississippi were reported in Lafayette, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Webster and Marshall counties. Deaths also were reported in Yazoo and Kemper counties.

The high winds, rain and hail, accompanied by tornado watches and warnings, pounded the region until late in the afternoon, when Chickasaw County was hit by two tornadoes and Monroe County suffered its destructive blow.

Smithville’s campus, which houses kindergarten to 12th grades, was rendered unusable. School had dismissed 30 minutes early, at 2:30, and all of its roughly 600 students were off campus by the time the storm hit.

Roofs were damaged on every building on campus and downed power lines wove multiple webs around the facilities. Trees were cracked, limbs were everywhere and fence posts were bent to the ground. The tornado leveled the school’s gymnasium, ripping open its roof and leaving its contents exposed to the elements.

Smithville Baptist Church and neighboring Smithville United Methodist Church were both destroyed. The Baptist church had an inverted Chevy truck on top of its roof where its offices once stood. The church bus lay on its side in a nearby ditch.

The town of Wren, about 17 miles away, also sustained significant damage, said Wren residents Amy and Eddie Pennington.

Eddie Pennington was driving when he saw multiple tornadoes.

“I stopped and I saw three tornadoes,” he said. “They split off and two went toward Smithivlle and one went toward Wren.”

Just before Monroe County was hit, two tornadoes swept across Chickasaw County, killing at least one person and injuring 10.

We've got 32 confirmed dead. I believe's there 128 dead in Al. Here's the video of the one that hit Wren

Here's the one that hit Smithville

Boston Globe has some amazing pictures of the devastation.

glatt:


You need to get yourself (and your family) a weather radio with an alarm.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=3506941

This one is AC powered, but I have at least two that are battery powered and will "wake up" if an alert is broadcast on one of the channels. I use them for regular NOAA weather reports when I'm out camping. It sounds like this device could help you sleep while the sleepin's good.

Big Sarge--

Man, I'm so sorry to hear about the devastation in your area--I am greatly relieved to hear the LEO that died protecting his daughter wasn't you like I'd feared.

Take maximum care.

We had one. It was useless. It was going off all the time. It was too sensitive. It would be broadcasting all these alerts that didn't apply to my location, or that I didn't think were important. If a storm is passing 60 miles south of me, I don't need to know about it.

We have weather sirens even in the small towns and out in the county. One of the deadliest tornadoes of all time was in my home town. Everybody in our area keps an eye on the weather

Blew through here over the last few hours, we came out unscathed.

I am thinking there are worse reasons to die.

What father would not do this thing?

This is terrible. I have heard that the hospitals are under a great deal of strain.

Holy moly. Nature can be a real monster sometimes.

My thoughts are with you.

I just want to know who the hell pissed off Mom? Earthquakes, Tsunami's, Tornado's, hell Hurricane season is just about to start. I hope I still have a house after this year.

Glad yer ok Sarge , let me know if theres any thing i can do to help as im only a few hrs away

Tuscaloosa, Alabama was hit REALLY hard. Like, the largest of the tornadoes that touched down there was apparently about a mile wide, and stayed on the ground for over two hours, going all the way from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham. Both my parents went to the UofA in Tuscaloosa and actually met working at a record store in a mall that came within about 200 feet of not hardly existing anymore.

Our experience too. We live near the Great Lakes and kept getting woken by shipping alerts...

Update on our Smithville tornado. EF-5

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ The National Weather Service says one of the tornadoes that killed hundreds in the South had winds of 205 mph and was the first EF-5 tornado in Mississippi since 1966.

That's the highest rating given by the weather service for tornado damage.

The weather services said Friday the tornado hit Smithville, Miss., at 3:44 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.

It was a half-mile wide and was on the ground for close to three miles.

The assessment is preliminary, based on photos taken Thursday and consultation with experts.

It's in our papers today (despite the Royal Wedding).
Horrendous, and I hope people recover as soon as they can.

psst i already posted that one

Yeah, but what goes aroundandaroundandaroundandaround comes aroundandaroundanadaround ....

Here is a photo gallery taken by a local photographer in Smithville:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fb...38194566217852

Can you believe this many folks still don't have power?

The tornadoes that hit the region earlier this week left 679,000 TVA customers without power. On Saturday afternoon, that number had dropped to 477,000, but Chief Operating Officer Bill McCollum said it could be mid-next week before a majority of those have power again.

en
 

Actually, yes. The storm damage was so widespread that work crews are stretched thin. Usully there is extra manpower to direct to the affected areas. This time everyone is scattered out.

Another problem is that often there isn't enough (or any) house left to tie on to.

So horrible. :(

Last I heard 2 were killed in Jasper county, at Louin, MS. About 7 miles from me

I didn't realize it was close to you. Glad you're ok.

They've just had a tornado in Auckland, New Zealand. WTF???

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...03/3206547.htm

You did it, when you abused all those helpless apostrophes, you monster.

Video shot by a deputy who responded to Smithville

:eek:

That is a giant load of sorrowful whoop-ass, Big Sarge. I'm speechless.

Oh I missed the video before. Nasty. How's the clean-up coming along? it's going to take years to deal with all that :(

It will take years. Plus they had another victim die yesterday from her injuries. Three local police departments have donated patrol cars to their pd since they lost all of their cars. An anonymous donor gave $150,000.00 to help compensate the victims' immediate needs

How is the potable water situation?

They've been on bottled water & boiled water. The Dept of Health is hoped to lift the boil water ban soon.

Just saw this over at Boing Boing.

Tornado deaths and tornado frequency don't match up. Basically, if you get lots of tornadoes in your area, you are smart about them, and don't let them kill you. If they are kind of rare, then they kill you.

Well there's something else in that statistical mix. A greater frequency of tornado occurence doesn't necessarily equal a greater frequency of killer tornadoes. It might, but it might not ... we can't tell that from those images.

Well the lower image purports to show the frequency of killer tornadoes. But if you meant that a greater frequency of tornadoes doesn't necessarily mean a greater frequency in severe tornadoes, than you are certainly correct there. This unfortunately doesn't address that.

Yes that is what I was trying to say, in my ungainly fashion. :)