Storms spawn tornadoes in Mississippi, kill driver in Georgia
YAZOO CITY, MISS. >> Severe storms spawning multiple tornadoes moved across the South on Monday, damaging homes and uprooting trees from Mississippi to Kentucky. A tornado spotted in Atlanta forced thousands to seek shelter, and one man was killed when a falling tree brought power lines onto his vehicle.
The motorist was pronounced dead after fire crews cut him from the vehicle in Douglasville, Georgia, west of Atlanta, Douglas County spokesman Rick Martin told reporters. No other details were immediately released.
The weather first turned rough in Mississippi on Sunday, where just south of Yazoo City, Vickie Savell was left with only scraps of the brand-new mobile home where she and her husband had moved in just eight days ago. It had been lifted off its foundation and moved about 25 feet. It was completely destroyed.
“Oh my God, my first new house in 40 years and it’s gone,” she said Monday, amid treetops strewn about the neighborhood and the roar of chain saws as people worked to clear roads.
Savell had been away from home, attending church, but her husband, Nathan, had been driving home and hunkered down in the front of his truck as the home nearby was destroyed. From there, he watched his new home blow past him, he said.
Nearby, Garry McGinty recalled being at home listening to birds chirping — then dead silence. He looked outside and saw a dark, ominous cloud and took shelter in a hallway, he said. He survived, but trees slammed into his carport, two vehicles and the side of his house.
A line of severe storms rolled through the state Sunday afternoon and into the nighttime hours. Late Sunday, a “tornado emergency” was declared for Tupelo and surrounding areas.
Photos retweeted by the National Weather Service in Memphis showed several downed trees and power lines. Tupelo Middle School sustained some damage, as well as houses and businesses.
There were multiple reports of damage to homes on Elvis Presley Drive, just down the street from the home where the famed singer was born. Presley was born in a two-room house in the Tupelo neighborhood but there was no indication that the historic home sustained damage. It’s now a museum.
Just down the street, a tornado tore the roof off the home of Terrille and Chaquilla Pulliam, they told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. About 10 family members took shelter inside the house, and “we got everybody inside in time,” Terrille Pulliam said.
Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan said Calhoun City also “was hit hard.”
“Light poles have been snapped off. Trees in a few homes. Trees on vehicles. Damage to several businesses. Fortunately we have had no reports at this time of injuries,” Pollan posted on Facebook, asking people to stay off the roads. “Emergency personnel are working feverishly to open the roads as quickly as possible.”
News outlets also reported tornadoes near Yazoo City, Byram and Tchula earlier Sunday.
As the system moved east, storms damaged homes in a Kentucky town early Monday and a tornado watch for much of the day covered large parts of Alabama and Georgia.
At one point Monday, a tornado warning prompted residents of Atlanta to seek shelter.
Atlanta firefighters responded to multiple calls of trees down, Atlanta Fire Rescue said in a statement late Monday morning. The agency was not aware of any significant injuries, but asked residents to be on guard as falling trees and limbs still posed a threat.
Georgia Power reported about 3,000 outages in the southwest part of the city. GreyStone Power reported more than 3,000 outages in Douglas and southern Fulton counites.