Thursday evening’s storms may have damaged 15 to 20 homes in New Hope, according to preliminary reports.
Cindy Lawrence, director of Lowndes County Emergency Management, told The Dispatch this morning most of the damage appears to have been concentrated in the Lakeover subdivision area, near Lake Lowndes Road.
There have been no reports of injuries.
Lawrence said emergency workers were responding by foot in some places Thursday because so many trees were blocking roads.
A deputy with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office this morning refused to allow a Dispatch reporter to travel Lake Lowndes Road where the reported damage was located.
Brian Karg, a New Hope resident, said he was at home with his girlfriend and daughter Thursday evening as the weather began to worsen.
After sending his girlfriend and daughter to the bathroom as a safety precaution, Karg said he looked outside and saw a funnel cloud coming over his home.
Whether a tornado touched down in the area had not been confirmed by weather officials by press time today.
A damage survey team from the National Weather Service was scheduled to leave Pearl heading for Lowndes County between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. today, according to Mike Edmonston, a senior meteorologist with the NWS.
That team will have an official determination by late this afternoon, Edmonston said.
The conditions Thursday evening — high winds, instability — were ripe for tornado activity, according to Edmonston.
Eric Carpenter, a meteorologist with the NWS, said radar detected a tornado debris signature beginning about 6:20 p.m. Thursday in the area. The storm crossed into Alabama and wind damage was reported in the Millport area there.
Officials with 4-County Electric Power Association said about 6 a.m. today that there were 500 homes without power in the New Hope area. There were nearly 20 broken power poles because of the storm, 4-County officials said.
Shank Phelps, director of Oktibbeha County Emergency Management, reported no damage or injuries there.
Heavy rain in the Mississippi Delta caused some widespread flooding. Sunflower County Emergency Manager Ben Grant said about two dozen homes in Moorhead were evacuated.
The NWS confirmed two tornadoes touched down in southeastern Louisiana, bringing down trees and power lines but causing no injuries.
The slew of tornadoes and storms in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama came a day after at least seven people were injured when severe storms spawned multiple tornado touchdowns in northeastern Oklahoma.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
William Browning was managing editor for The Dispatch until June 2016.
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