One fatality and two injuries occurred in Natchez Saturday as severe weather moved through the state, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Two people were also injured due to the storms in Franklin County.
Over 67,000 Mississippians were still without power early Sunday morning after a series of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms tore through the state. At its peak, as many as 93,000 customers in Mississippi were without power, according to powerouttage.us.
Between 20-30 tornadoes were reported in Mississippi Saturday evening, according to the National Weather Service in Jackson. The number may rise as storm survey teams from the NWS assess damage.
In a statement, MEMA communications director, Malary White, said damage assessments would begin Sunday for counties impacted by the storms.
“At this time it’s too early to have an exact count of damaged homes. We encourage residents to self report damage by using our MEMA App or going to our website msema.org, click the report damage tab, select their home county and complete the form. It’s not an application for assistance, but it’s for information-gathering purposes.”
According to the National Weather Service, a tornado watch was issued for Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi Saturday night going into Sunday morning. The watch remained in effect for much of the Central and Western portions of Mississippi until Sunday morning. Damaging winds up to 80 mph, golf ball size hail and tornadoes were likely.
Storms associated with this severe weather outbreak Saturday will spread into the southeastern U.S. Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.