EF 3 Tornado Devastates Simpson County and Others

Tornado damaged May Street in MaGee

Residents in Magee are still cleaning up this morning after an EF 3 tornado touched down leaving a trail of destruction. MPB's Lawayne Childrey reports on recovery efforts.

At about 1:30 Thursday morning the fierce storm ripped apart May Street, peeling off roof tops, collapsing houses, and tossing cars hundreds of feet into the woods. The whole ordeal was a nightmare for Stephanie Rankin who has lived on the street for four years.

“My dog woke me up and I looked at the TV and saw that the tornado was headed straight this way. And I stepped to the door and I was standing outside and I just thought go get in the tub and as soon as I got in the tub the electricity went off. And I had pillows over my head and the whole house was shaking. And luckily everyone on this road is alive and well.”

A state of emergency remains in place for Simpson and 12 other counties where winds up to 165 miles per hour ripped through homes and businesses, downed numerous trees and power lines and injured dozens of people. Some residents are being housed and fed in emergency shelters until power and water can be restored. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Womack says the emergency declaration will allow MEMA and other agencies to assist in a number of ways.

“Working with volunteer agencies like Red Cross, Salvation Army and others we should be able to get everyone someplace to stay over the next few days. But other assistance will be dependent on exactly how many homes are damaged and destroyed. I feel like just driving through that at the very least we should be able to get a small business administration declaration and that would mean some low interest disaster loans.”

Just a few blocks from May Street, Parishioner, Sarah Rankin is trying to salvaged what's left of the century old Corinth Baptist Church which was completely demolished.

“We had some pictures in there of the churches when it was first built on up until this last building was built. And we hope that we’ll be able to salvage some of those but if we don’t you know it’s in the lords hands what we do and what we don’t.”

Church leaders say they are planning to have services on the grounds this Sunday even though they have been offered a place to worship by several other churches and schools in the area. For MPB News, I'm Lawayne Childrey.