JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — A tornado damaged homes and at least one church, and strong winds damaged student housing at a community college Tuesday in eastern Mississippi. Authorities said no injuries were immediately reported.
The tornado appeared to be on the ground for about five miles in and near the small town of Collinsville, northwest of Meridian, said Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie.
Student housing was damaged at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, which is northeast of Meridian in Kemper County. Scooba is near the Alabama state line.
“Everyone is accounted for and safe, but student housing was damaged and EMCC is working to provide alternatives,” college spokeswoman Suzanne Monk said in a statement.
She said it was unclear whether the damage on campus was caused by the tornado or straight-line winds.
Greg Flynn, spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said a confirmed tornado was reported just before 3:30 p.m. in Newton and Lauderdale counties.
A dispatcher at the Newton County Sheriff’s Department said there was very little structural damage in that county.
The area hit in Lauderdale County is mostly rural but also has a large subdivision, Sollie said. Most people were at work when the storm struck. The sheriff said though there were no immediate reports of injuries, ambulances were on standby.
First Baptist Church of Collinsville had “a good bit of structural damage,” Sollie said. He also said many trees were toppled, and power was knocked out.
Five counties in south and central Mississippi opened community safe rooms for people to take shelter, if needed, because of severe weather as a strong cold front moved through the state. The shelters were in Adams, Copiah, Forrest, Jones and Rankin counties.
The state emergency agency asked residents to prepare for the possibility of severe storms into Wednesday morning.
Eric Carpenter, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Jackson, said the primary threats would be damaging winds, tornadoes, hail and heavy rainfall as the cold front pushed through Mississippi. Severe storms could linger in the southeastern part of the state through Wednesday morning.
Tim Destri, a meteorologist with the weather service in Slidell, Louisiana, said several areas north of Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana and several Mississippi Gulf Coast counties, including Pearl River, Hancock, Harrison and Jackson, were under a tornado watch Tuesday night.
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