- Tornado, damaging storm struck three-county area
- All four fatalities are from Hattiesburg
- Thousands of customers lost power
- MEMA says clean-up is expected to take weeks
A tornado that tore through the Hattiesburg area overnight killed fourpeople, closed parts of Interstate 59 and left thousands of homes and businesses without power. And as emergency crews are responding to disaster needs, officials are also preparing for another round of severe weather this evening.
All fourfatalities were in Hattiesburg. Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict said two of the fatalities were in a trailer park off Edwards Street. The third was from a residence off Crestwood Drive. The fourth was at a house near South Tipton Street and Alcorn Avenue.
Victims' names are not being released at this time.
Lee Smithson, executive director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said the tornado hit a three-county area.
"It touched down in Lamar County on Purvis-Oloh Road and stayed on the ground all the way through Hattiesburg and crossed over (the Leaf River) at Pumping Station Road, just to the west of Petal. It lifted up as it crossed the (Perry) county line," Smithson said of MEMA's preliminary track of the storm.
Smithson said Gov. Phil Bryant is traveling back to the state after attending the inauguration and will sign a state of emergency declaration. The governor is expected to visit the impacted areas this afternoon.
Forrest County Emergency Management Agency Director Glen Moore said the tornado hit Hattiesburg, Petal and the unincorporated areas of Forrest County. MEMA reported heavy structural damage in neighboring Lamar and Perry counties, but officials there have reported no fatalities.
Moore said there were multiple reports of people trapped in homes along the path of the storm. State and local emergency responders coordinated on rescue missions in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday as a another line of severe weather swept through.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol shut down parts of Interstate 59 north of Hattiesburg due to debris and downed power lines covering most of the lanes.
"The clean-up is going to be weeks," Smithson said. "It's our expectation that the major roads will be open today. The total debris clean-up will be weeks at this point."
William Carey University and the surrounding neighborhoods took a major brunt of the early morning twister. Every building on the school's campus suffered some level of damage. No major injuries have been reported, although a Lady Crusaders soccer player lost three fingers when her hand was caught by a slamming door.
Mississippi Power spokesman Jeff Shepard said there are approximately 9,100 homes and businesses without power in Hattiesburg and Petal.
"We’re assessing the damage and restoring power where we can do it safely," he said. "We have crews from the coast and Meridian en route to Hattiesburg to assist our Pine Belt employees."
Dixie Electric Power Association, which serves 38,500 customers in a seven-county area of South Mississippi, reported more than 5,000 without power.
"The majority of those are in Forrest County, 3,166. We’ve got in Jones County, 739 out, Perry County, 727, Wayne County, 319, and Covington, 39," said spokeswoman Lydia Walters.
Petal Mayor Hal Marx is urging residents to stay home. Emergency personnel are out working to clear roads, and there are multiple areas of downed power lines and gas leaks.
"Stay off roads in affected areas," he said. "No sightseeing."
Petal sustained major damage along Evelyn Gandy and Byrd parkways, and an 18-wheeler overturned in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. Several stores in the adjoining strip mall are heavily damaged, including the AT&T and C Spire wireless stores, Fox's Pizza and Los Charros restaurants.
Trees and power lines are down along Central Avenue, Corinth Road and Old Corinth Road. Other areas are reporting damage as well.
Officials at the National Weather Service say more severe weather is expected between 4 p.m. and midnight. Meteorologist Latrice Maxie said there is the danger of more tornadoes.
"There is a chance later tonight for hail, damaging winds, another round of storms. There is a chance of tornadoes, but it is greater north of I-20, Jackson and Meridian, north," she said.
Maxie said the severe storms are the result of warm, moist air present across the southeast.
4:22 p.m.
Hattiesburg Public School District officials said in a statement that only one school appeared to suffer storm-related damage, withLillie Burney STEAM Academy experiencingroof damage.
The district's priority now is checking on students, staffand their families.
School staff will be available Monday to assist parents with school needs related to the storm. Additionally, grief and trauma counselors are being coordinated to assist any students who need them.
School administrators are working with city officials and emergency management personnel to determine if road conditions will allow the district to have school Monday. Notice will be posted as soon as a decision has been made about the schedule.
3:06 p.m.
According to the National Weather Service's preliminary reports, Saturday’s tornado was ranked an EF3.
Weather service officials stipulated, however, that many of the hardest-hit areas had not yet been assessed.
They said the initial tornado warning went out at 2:57 a.m., with 38 minutes of lead time before the tornado began its destructive path.
2:04 p.m.
A curfew has been issued in Petal from dusk to dawn in the affected areas, Mayor Hal Marx said.
The curfew is in effect until further notice.
“We’re not going to tolerate anybody looting or stealing,” he said.
1 p.m.
Mississippi Power transmission and distribution crews are assessing damage and working to restore electric service wherever they can access equipment following a tornado in the Hattiesburg and Petal areas Saturday morning. These efforts will continue throughout today to help safely restore power to as many customers as possible, according to a press release.
An initial assessment indicates more than 200 utility poles need to be replaced along with other power delivery equipment.
As of 10:30 a.m., approximately 7,000 Mississippi Power customers were without service. At the peak of the storm, approximately 11,000 customers were without power.
A storm team of approximately 250linemen, engineers, vegetation management and support personnel are working on restorative efforts. That number could grow as the company determines the extent of the damage.
“Experienced crews began working after the tornado passed to safely restore service to as many customers who could receive it,” said Mississippi Power Pine Belt Division Manager Michael Harvey. “We’re riding every line to assess the extent of the damage and working closely with the city and county to safely bring power back to our customers in the Pine Belt.”
You can monitor the status of outages with Mississippi Power’s online outage map and learn about Mississippi Power’s restoration process here.
10:15 a.m.
Some traffic signals are out along highways in the Hattiesburg area, but Interstate 59, Interstate 11, U.S. 49 and U.S. 98 are open, said Michael Flood, spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
“The only closure we have is Highway 43 in Marion County because of flooding,” he said.
Crews will be out clearing debris from roads, and drivers should use caution, Flood said.
9:45a.m.
Gov. Phil Bryant will sign a state of emergency declaration today, said Lee Smithson, executivedirector of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. He said Bryant is flying back to Jackson from Friday'spresidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. Smithson expects him to travel to the Pine Belt later today to see the damage.
Smithson said MEMA has a preliminary track of the tornado's path.
"It touched down in Lamar County on Purvis-Oloh Road and stayed on the ground all the way through Hattiesburg and crossed over (the Leaf River) at Pumping Station Road, just to the west of Petal. It lifted up asit crossed the (Perry) county line.”
"MEMA has area coordinators down there, and search and rescue personnel," Smithson said. "The National Weather Service is on the way to do the assessment."
A National Guard helicopter will help to do an aerial assessment of the damage, and MEMA will send heavy equipment down to help push debris off the roads.
"The clean-up is going to be weeks," Smithson said. "It's our expectation that the major roads will be open today. The total debris clean-up will be weeks at this point."
Smithson said MEMA is assistingForrest County Emergency Management.
9:30 a.m.
From the Hattiesburg Salvation Army:
The Hattiesburg Salvation Army was not spared by a tornado that blew through the Pine Belt early Saturday morning. Before the sun rose, corps officer, Captain Patrick Connelly, arrived on his campus and knew it was bad.
“Before first light, I could tell there were windows blown out and standing water in the buildings,” Connelly said.
Connelly said the winds also peeled back the roofs on every building on campus. The Hattiesburg Salvation Army facilities include a homeless shelter, church sanctuary, administrative offices, and a Boys and Girls Club for after-school programs.
“This won’t stop us. In fact, we will have feeding trucks on our campus feeding lunch to those in the area who are in need,” Connelly said.
The Jackson Salvation Army is sending two mobile feeding units to Hattiesburg to help. One of the vehicles contains a full kitchen capable of feeding hundreds of meals a day.
The Hattiesburg Salvation Army is located at 5670 U.S. 49 in Hattiesburg.
9:14 a.m.
Due to the severe weather, Hattiesburg Clinic Immediate Care – Petal and Cloverleaf Immediate Care will be closed Saturday.Patients who need urgent medical care should visit Immediate Care, located at 105 Thornhill Drivein Hattiesburg.
9:10 a.m.
Phone lines are down at Kohler Engines located in the Hattiesburg-Forrest County Industrial Park in Hattiesburg.
The company will not run its second-shift operations Saturday. It will resume operations at its normal time on Monday.
8:51 a.m.
Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict said he can confirm three fatalities related to this morning's severe weather.
Benedict said two of the fatalities were in a trailer park off Edwards Street. The other was off Crestwood.
Victims' names are not being released at this time.
8:35 a.m.
"Currently, we have 5,021 members without power," saidLydia Walters, spokeswoman for Dixie Electric Power Association."The majority of those are in Forrest County, 3,166. We’ve got in Jones County, 739 out, Perry County, 727, Wayne County, 319, and Covington, 39."
Dixie Electric Power Association serves 38,500 accounts in a seven county area in south Mississippi, including Jones, Wayne, Perry, Forrest, Covington, Clarke and Jasper counties.
For more information, go to dixieepa.com.
8:20 a.m.
Mississippi Power spokesman Jeff Shepard said there are approximately 9,100 homes and businesses without powerin Hattiesburg and Petal.
"We’re assessing the damage and restoring power where we can do it safely," he said.
Outages can be reported at800-532-1502 or outagemap.mississippipower.com, where you can also see the areas affected and get an estimateon when power will be restored.
“We have crews from the coast and Meridian en route to Hattiesburg to assist our Pine Belt employees," Shepard said.“We are all working together to assess the damage and get the power restored as quickly as possible."
He cautioned about not touching or driving over live wires.“You can’t tell even if a line is down if it’s live or not."
7:20 a.m.
Lamar County Coroner Cody Creel said there are no fatalities to report in Lamar County.
7:01 a.m.
Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict said he could not confirm any fatalities at this time.
6:40 a.m.
Petal Mayor Hal Marx is urging residents to stay home. Emergency personnel areout working to clear roads, and there are multiple areas of downed power lines and gas leaks.
"Stay off roads in affected areas," he said. "No sightseeing."
Petal sustained major damage in some areas, including along Evelyn Gandy and Byrd parkways, where Wal-Mart is located. An 18-wheeler is overturned in the parking lot there.
Several stores in the adjoining strip mall are heavily damaged, including the AT&T and C Spire wireless stores, Fox's Pizza and Los Charros restaurants.
Trees and power linesare down along Central Avenue, Corinth Road and Old Corinth Road. Other areas are reporting damage as well.
LIVE UPDATES: Tornado recovery process
6:06 a.m.
From the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency:
MEMA has receivedreports of extensive damage from ongoing severe weather this morning.
Forrest, Lamar and Perry counties are all reporting structural damage. MEMA is coordinating response efforts.
Search and Rescue teams are being deployed to assist Forrest County emergency management in the Hattiesburg area.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol is reporting Interstate 59 north of Hattiesburg is closed due to debris.
There are power lines and debris over a large area so the public is asked to avoid travelling.
Severe weather is still moving through the southeastern part of the state.
The State Emergency Operations Center is activated providing resources as needed from counties.
5:40 a.m.
Officials at the National Weather Service say the severe weather should let up soon, but then return sometime between 4 p.m. and midnight.
Meteorologist Latrice Maxie said the storms will dissipate around 8-9 a.m., but there is the danger of more tornadoes later today.
"We should get another round of storms to come through," she said. "There is a chance later tonight for hail, damaging winds, another round of storms. There is a chance of tornadoes, but it is greater north of I-20, (Jackson and Meridian, north)."
Maxie said the severe storms are the result of warm, moist air present across the southeast.
She said there is one confirmed tornado that came through Purvis, the southern part of Hattiesburg and Petal shortly before 4 a.m. Little is currently known about it. National Weather Service survey teams will have to get on the scene to learn more about its strength and path.
5:20 a.m.
Petal Mayor Hal Marx said police and fire officials are out trying to free people trapped in damaged houses from a tornado that touched down in Petal. He said there is lots of damage through the center of town and around Walmart.
Power lines are down and streets are blocked.
Officials are still trying to assess the damage, which is difficult right now because it is still storming and it is dark out.
4:55 a.m.
Glen Moore, Forrest County Emergency Management Agency Director, confirmeda tornado hit Hattiesburg, Petal and the unincorporated areas of Forrest County. He said people are trapped in multiple damaged residences.
Search and rescue teams are out working to free trapped residents.
No word on how many injuries, but there are some, Moore said.
He had only preliminary information at this time.
James Smith, Lamar County Emergency Management Agency Director, also had only limited information. He could not confirm that a tornado had touched down in Lamar County, but did say multiple residences were damaged.
He had people out in the field working to survey the damage and look for any injured residents.
"We're trying to make sure we have no injuries," he said.
Tornado hits Hattiesburg
The National Weather Service in Jackson confirmed a tornado hit Hattiesburg early Saturday morning.
An official with the service could not confirm any damage reports beyond several downed power poles and power lines.
"At this point, that's the most we've heard," said the NWS official.
The same official also said the line of storms that produced the tornado had moved through Forrest and Lamar counties and into Perry and Jones counties. The official added another storm cell was approaching and on track to reach Hattiesburg and western Forrest County at approximately 4:25 a.m.
"And there will be more storms behind that one, so there will continue to be showers and thunderstorms throughout the early morning hours," the official said.
