At least three confirmed tornadoes struck Mississippi on Monday afternoon, causing serious damage in the Tupelo area, as millions of people in the Deep South braced for the second punch of a storm system that killed 14 people in Arkansas over the weekend.
A tornado hit Tupelo and tracked northward, causing 'significant property damage,' Mayor Jason Shelton said.
'We're very fortunate that we have no reports of death in our city,' Shelton told The Weather Channel, but he said there were unconfirmed reports of some non-life-threatening injuries.
NBC station WTVA of Tupelo said the twister caused major damage as it hit Barnes Crossing Mall a couple of miles north of downtown. The Daily Journal newspaper of Tupelo reported that several businesses were severely damaged or destroyed, including two restaurants and at least two gas stations.
WTVA was live on the air and had to be evacuated when the tornado was reported on the ground, leaving viewers to watch the news team scramble off their screens:
Another tornado touched down at the intersection of state Highways 78 and 45, closing the intersection, the Lee County Sheriff's Office said.
Forecasters for The Weather Channel said debris fields on radar and the large wedge shape of the storm indicated that the damage could be serious around Tupelo, home to about 35,000 people.
Less than an hour earlier, the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado near Yazoo City, Miss., where a tornado estimated at 170 mph killed 10 people four years ago. There were no early estimates of damage there.
Tornado warnings dotted central Mississippi late Monday afternoon and extended into northeast Alabama, the National Weather Service said, warning of the potential for quarter-size hail and serious tornado and wind damage. School districts in Alabama let their students out early, and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency.
A broader swath of the middle of the country was at risk for some form of severe weather, as far north as Iowa, as far south as New Orleans and as far east as Charlotte, N.C.
'We are very concerned once again,' said Carl Parker, a storm specialist at The Weather Channel.
The storm system, which spawned tornadoes on Sunday that killed at least 16 people in Arkansas, Iowa and Oklahoma, is expected to be a three-day event. The risk of severe storms for Wednesday extends to Virginia and the Carolina coast.
First published April 28 2014, 3:49 AM
M. Alex Johnson is a senior writer for NBC News covering general news, with an emphasis on explanatory journalism and data analysis. Johnson joined NBCNews.com in January 2000 from The Washington Post, where he was news editor of washingtonpost.com and night city editor of the print edition. He has also worked at the Knight-Ridder Washington bureau, Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer, where he was part of a team that won the 1987 Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service. He is a member of the National Press Club, Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Online News Association.
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