Another night of severe weather has left four people dead in Mississippi, including a Louisiana law enforcement officer who was out camping with his daughter, raising the state’s total death toll to at least five.
Kim Korthuis, a supervisor with the National Park Service at Jeff Busby Park off the Natchez Trace in Choctaw County, Miss., said the 40-year-old man from Covington, La., and his daughter were camping less than 50 feet from the camp’s public restrooms, a wood and brick structure that was not damaged. The tent was sitting just off the main road through the park when the storm came through.
A 125-foot tall sweetgum tree, one of several towering over the campsite, fell onto the tent killing the man, who has not been identified, Korthuis said. He said the girl survived but was “obviously upset.”
Her mother and grandmother picked the girl up about noon Wednesday. Other campers were at the park, but no other injuries were reported.
Along the Trace in north Mississippi, crews were out removing trees that had fallen along the scenic route that runs to Nashville.
While there were widespread reports of damaged and downed power lines in this area of north Mississippi, few trees fell in the immediate area around the campsite.
Paul Maier, a volunteer at the park who helps others on camping trips, said he and his wife slept through the storm in a camper about 100 feet the victim’s campsite. He said another person brought the little girl to stay with him.
He said he went back to the tent to check on her father, he found the man had died.
Maier said the girl said she was 9 years old and that she had thought her father had been struck by lightning. Maier said the way the little girl described the situation, he believes her father was trying to get her up and out of the tent to safety.
“She wasn’t hurt, just scared and soaking wet,” Maier said.
Statewide, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency reported there were at least 30 people injured from the storm that caused damage in 41 counties along a widespread area from the Mississippi Delta to extreme northeast Mississippi.
Gov. Haley Barbour issued a State of Emergency for 39 Mississippi counties and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
The declaration cover the counties of Adams, Alcorn, Attala, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay, Coahoma, Covington, Grenada, Hinds, Holmes, Issaquena, Kemper, Lafayette, Lauderdale, Leake, Leflore, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Neshoba, Newton, Panola, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Rankin, Scott, Smith, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union, Yalobusha, Webster and Yazoo where damage had been reported.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost loved ones or property in these devastating spring storms,” Barbour said in a statement. “A large section of our state has been impacted, and our emergency responders are doing an excellent job in helping communities. This State of Emergency declaration will allow the state to offer aid to begin recovery efforts.”
In Webster County, Coroner Steve Wells said a man was killed about 2:30 a.m. when a tree fell on his mobile home located in the Ticky Bend community between Eupora and Mathiston off U.S. Highway 82. The victim has not been identified.
In Yazoo County, Coroner Ricky Shivers said a member of a county road crew, 48-year-old Charles H. “Harold’ Coker of Yazoo City, was killed Wednesday when he was struck and killed by a tree the crew was removing from old Highway 49. Shivers said Coker was pronounced dead at the scene.
In Lafayette County, Coroner Rocky Kennedy said a 55-year-old Oxford man was killed Wednesday when his 18-wheeler truck hit a tree and ran off Mississippi Highway 30 east of Oxford. The driver was not immediately identified.
Lafayette County emergency management director David Shaw said two people were slightly hurt when the tractor-trailer rig they were in was blown over by high winds in the parking lot of the Winchester plant.
“We apparently had a tornado come through here. We had extensive damage from the west side of the county to the east … mostly trees down, homes damaged and downed power lines. There were no other injuries,” he said.
In Holmes County, the sheriff’s department lost its communications tower and a building that contained old case files and evidence was destroyed, according to local officials. The sheriff’s office was operating with a backup communications system. There were no injuries. Several roads were shut down earlier Wednesday so crews could remove trees. The roads have reopened.
In Webster County, Wells said the sheriff’s department and other emergency officers were working out of the Eupora City Hall because of power outages.
He said there had been damage to several structures, including the East Webster school. He said no students were present when the storm came through.
“There’re lots of trees and power lines down along the Highway 82 and Highway 15 corridors,” Wells said.
In Chickasaw County, emergency management director Linda Griffin said crews were out to assist with damage and determine injury.
“We had an older couple off of Enon Road whose trailer was completely destroyed,” Griffin said. “We had to walk them out. We had a couple of injuries but no deaths reported. So far, all of our folks are accounted for.”
On Tuesday, authorities said a 3-year-old girl in McComb, Miss., was killed when a storm toppled a large tree onto her family’s home. The girl’s parents, who were in the room with her, were both injured.
Entergy Mississippi reported a total 24,551 customers without power in Mississippi Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s very scattered outages, but we do have pockets that are particularly hard hit,” Entergy Mississippi spokeswoman Mara Hartmann said. “It’s tough. It’s straining our resources.
“Not only has it hit us hard, but it’s hit Arkansas and Louisiana. The people we normally get help from have been affected themselves. That doesn’t mean we can’t get help; it will just take longer.”
Ron Stewart with the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi said 14,000 meters remained without service and power could be expected to restored by late Wednesday.
Jeff Rent, with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said authorities are concerned about the possibility of flash flooding in the northern part of the state, though there had been no reports of it by Wednesday morning.
“From Highway 82, north, has just been pounded again and again,” Rent said.
Locally, across the Golden Triangle, crews worked to restore power and clear roads this morning, in advance of more severe weather expected this afternoon.
4-County Electric Power Association reported that it could take up to five days for Clay, Webster, Choctaw and Noxubee counties to recover from the storm.
The storm knocked out power to about 5,000 customers and downed about 100 utility poles, with Clay and Webster counties hit the hardest, said 4-County spokesman Brad Barr.
Oktibbeha and Lowndes Counties had scattered outages and very minor damage, he added.
West Oktibbeha High School was closed today because of power outages, county schools Superintendent James Covington said.
Katharyn Rosenhan, assistant chief of the Maben Fire Department, said that the department was working to put out a structure fire on Highway 50 on the Webster-Clay County line, made worse by the storm. A fallen tree blocked fire crews, who had to cut the tree away to reach the scene.
Maben and other emergency responders worked to clear trees along impassible roads in the area around Mathiston.
In Alabama, the pre-dawn wave of thunderstorms caused widespread damage across the central part of the state, snapping trees, damaging buildings and leaving some 245,000 utility customers without power in a preview of what forecasters say will be a day of rough weather.
The weather service said a system with winds up to 70 mph blew
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