Winds up to 70 miles an hour, heavy rain and hail the size of baseballs tore through Mississippi Sunday, less than 48 hours after three tornadoes devastated parts of Sharkey, Humphreys, Carroll and Monroe counties. Although the stormy weather affected recovery efforts in some of the hardest-hit areas, the worst of Sunday’s storms were near I-20– in areas that escaped the tornado damage Friday night.
A fire station lost its roof in Bolton, a Sonic Drive-in was damaged in Clinton and lots of trees were blown down, some of them hitting homes. But the damage pales in comparison to the utter devastation caused by the EF-4 tornado in Rolling Fork and Silver City where 16 people (updated figure) were killed Friday night. The National Weather Service says the tornado was up to three-quarters of a mile wide, had top winds of 170 miles an hour and was on the ground for about 59 miles– beginning in Issaquena County and ending in Holmes County.
Another tornado that’s being rated an EF-3 with winds up to 155 mph developed in Carroll County and tracked across Montgomery County. Three deaths are being blamed on that storm which was on the ground for almost 29 miles.
The third tornado, an EF-3 which hit Amory, first touched down in Chickasaw County and moved across Monroe County, killing two people, before pushing into Itawamba County. It was on the ground for 37 miles with winds that reached 155 mph and was almost a mile wide.
The combined paths of the three tornadoes totaled 125 miles.
