Tales of horror as storms take 5 lives

JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi woman who desperately tried to direct rescuers to her sinking vehicle after it skidded into a rain-swollen creek was among five people killed in storms across the South.

Jacqueline Williams, 52, was running a newspaper delivery route when her car slid off a road into a creek in her hometown of Florence before dawn yesterday, authorities said. She dialed 911 from the car as it went down, said Rankin County Coroner David Ruth.

Ruth said Williams was trying to relay her location to a dispatcher as the car settled into the swirling waters. “She was trying to tell the dispatcher where she was, and she could actually hear the sirens,” Ruth said.

The two lost contact, and Ruth said a swift-water recovery team later found Williams’ body in the creek outside the car.

Florence police Chief Richard Thomas said the current where Williams died was fast and strong.

In the tiny Mississippi Delta town of Glendora, the mayor’s wife died Sunday when strong winds toppled a tree onto the couple’s house. Mayor Johnny B. Thomas was briefly hospitalized with injuries after his wife Shirley was killed.

“She was a nice lady. Very sweet. Everybody loved her,” town clerk Aquarius Simmons said.

Two other people died earlier in Louisiana, and a man died yesterday in South Carolina after storms swept through the state.

Some schools in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama canceled or delayed the start of classes yesterday so students wouldn’t travel in heavy rain or on flooded streets.