[OKDXA] Tornado Damage in Laurel, MS

[N5PA]

Luckily, nobody was killed in the tornado that hit at about 5:15 a.m. this
morning.  They said that up to 15 people have apparently been injured by
what is believed to be a tornado that struck the northern half of Jones
County early Wednesday morning. Initial reports indicates most of the damage
is in the Shady Grove area, just north of Laurel.  Jones County Emergency
Management Director Don McKinnon says 35 homes suffered damage in the county
with as many as five deemed destroyed. Several businesses have also been
destroyed or suffered some type of damage.  Power lines and trees were down
in the area along Trace Road, Bush Dairy Road, and Springhill Road, as well
as other mainly northern portions of the county. There were reports of
people trapped in their homes, but according to emergency first responders,
there are no reports of injuries.  All Jones County Schools are open,
although buses were running about an hour and a half late in the impacted
areas. Power crews from Mississippi Power and Dixie Electric were in the
area restoring power.  The line of the tornado or tornados left a track
about 20 miles or so long.  I had several employees that were directly
affected by this storm.  One of them had part of her roof torn off, the back
porch torn off, their shop was destroyed, and had several large trees down.
Her neighbors had more or less the same amount of damage with some having
large trees fall on and into their house.  The storm originally woke us up
about 3:30 a.m. and the Weather  Radio was going off continuously until
about six this morning.  The lightning and wind were really bad, but we only
got .15 inches of rain at our house.  The lightning made it almost
impossible to hear the storm itself.  A lot of the people here at work said
that they did not hear it until it was right on them.  It could have been
much worse if it had taken a little more southern route.  It would have gone
right through Laurel, MS and there would have been a lot more damage and
injuries.  Luckily it went through a sparsely populated area.  We now have
blue skies and 76 degrees.  It is supposed to cool down into the middle 40's
with the highs tomorrow in the low 60's and tomorrow night it will be in the
upper 20's.  I told my wife last night when we got home that it was way too
hot for this time of year and I was afraid that we were going to have some
severe weather.  The weatherman on the local TV station said at ten last
night that there was not going to be a threat of severe weather or tornados.
Boy was he wrong!  I am glad that even though there were 15 people injured,
nobody was killed.  The difference between Oklahoma and here is that here,
most tornados happen at night.  The other difference is that most tornados
cannot be seen because of all the trees and it is upon you before you can
see it.  Thanks for all the concerns and I hope that there is not anymore of
this kind of weather out of this front as it continues eastward!  There are
several local hams that possibly were in the damage path and I will check on
them tonight.



73,

Alan Clark, N5PA

Ellisville, MS

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