One Killed, Many Injured in Jasper Tornado

Damage in Louin from Sunday night tornado

Most of the storms Mississippi has been dealing with since last week have been packing straight-line winds.  But last night, the weather system that’s been locked into the state produced an outbreak of tornadoes.  And it looks like Jasper County may have gotten the worst of it.   One death and nearly two dozen injuries are being reported between Bay Springs and Louin where the National Weather Service confirms that a large tornado touched down around 11:30.  Major structural damage is being reported.  Weather Service radar confirmed other tornado touchdowns in Scott County near Forkville and in Rankin County near Fannin, Florence and Pelahatchie.

Locally, severe storms prompted several warnings last night and heavy rain caused problems.  In Leake County, flash flooding near Standing Pine trapped people in their mobile homes and a boat crew was sent in to evacuate them.  And law enforcement reported streets flooded in Kosciusko during that heavy rain early today.  The Weather Service says at least three to five inches of rain fell in this part of central Mississippi.

Last night’s storms have knocked out power to thousands more Mississippians.  In Leake County, where only about 300 customers were still without electricity Sunday morning following earlier storms, the number of outages as of 9 am Monday was more than 2,563.   A total of 2,080 homes and businesses are without power in Neshoba County following last night’s bad weather.   But in Attala County, crews were able to make progress Sunday in restoring service knocked out by last week’s storms.  The number of outages has gone from about 1,600 to about 1,266.  A little over a thousand outages in Holmes County have been cut in half, now fewer than 500.