Fierce Tornado Causes Deaths Across Mississippi

Fierce Tornado Causes Deaths Across Mississippi
By SARAH WHEATON
Copyright by The Associated Press
Published: April 24, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/us/25tornado.html?hp



A tornado described by one Mississippi official as the worst in the area in decades swept through the state on Saturday, leaving at least 10 people dead in its path.

Gov. Haley Barbour declared a state of emergency in areas affected by the twister. Seven counties on a 188-mile path reported damage ranging from fallen trees and downed power lines to flattened buildings. An emergency official estimated that the storm left thousands without power and hundreds homeless.

Greg Flynn, a spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said that unlike the tornadoes typical for the area this time of year, “we don’t see tornadoes that are three-quarters of a mile wide here. This is clearly the worst tornado in decades.”

Three children were among the dead, and 21 people were taken to hospitals.

“I think it could’ve been a lot more,” Mr. Flynn said, if not for grave warnings from the National Weather Service on Wednesday and improved response systems put in place after Hurricane Katrina.

Several large outdoor events, including a campout involving hundreds of Boy Scouts, were canceled in anticipation of the storm, and people had 20 to 30 minutes warning that it was approaching, Mr. Flynn said.

The storm, one of several that affected four Southern states, touched down in Louisiana, where, according to The Associated Press, it damaged a tank at a chemical plant in Tallulah before crossing the Mississippi River about 11:30 a.m. Over the next several hours, it would tear through mostly rural sections of Mississippi, reaching its top strength in Yazoo County. The county seat, Yazoo City, with a population of about 10,000, was the largest municipality affected.

Yazoo City is also hometown to Mr. Barbour, who toured some of the damaged region. “He said it looked just like Katrina because in certain parts there was nothing left,” Mr. Flynn said.

American Medical Response of Central Mississippi, which provides ambulance services in the Yazoo County, set up a portable triage center in Yazoo City.

“Many patients were brought out on four-wheelers because trees were down, buildings were down, streets were difficult to drive in,” said Jim Pollard, a spokesman for American Medical Response.

Near Satartia, a farming community in western Mississippi, Rachel Evilsizor, 17, went to check on her grandfather as the storm approached. She forced him to stand in a hallway for safety, which experts say is the safest place in a house during a tornado, apart from a basement.

“As soon as we got in the hallway, you start hearing this loud noise, the whole house starts shaking, and the next thing you know, we’ve been blown onto the ground,” she said in an interview with WAPT-TV in Jackson, Miss. Then, parts of the house came crashing down around her. “Let me tell you, it was some scary stuff.”

The National Weather Service issued severe weather warnings for eastern Mississippi until 2 a.m. Sunday, saying residents could expect hail the size of tennis balls.