IUKA – While the National Weather Service has downgraded Tropical Storm Lee to a tropical depression, residents in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are still feelings its effects. At least two deaths have been attributed to the storm that dumped more than a foot of rain in New Orleans and spun off tornadoes in at least two other states.
A Corinth man drowned Sunday after authorities said he tried to cross a swollen creek in a minivan in Tishomingo County, in Mississippi. John Howard Anderson Jr, 57, was driving a minivan near J.P. Coleman State Park, near Iuka, when he got stuck in water that had risen to at least eight feet. Two other people in the minivan were thrown a rope by rescuers and pulled to safety. WTVA reported that Anderson either “lost the rope” or “just let go.”
His body was found near where the creek runs into Pickwick Lake, WTVA said.
In Texas, a body boarder drowned after being pulled out to sea by heavy surf churned up by Lee, and the Coast Guard was searching for a boy swept away by rough surf off the Alabama coast.
Lee came ashore over the weekend in Louisiana, and despite some street flooding, officials said New Orleans’ 24-pump flood control system was doing its job. On Monday, heavy rain continued to fall in Mississippi and make its way across Alabama and into Tennessee and Georgia.
In Georgia, suspected tornadoes sent trees falling into homes and injured at least one person.
Damage to homes ranged from ripped-off siding and shingles to holes punched through roofs by falling trees. In all, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency said about 100 homes were damaged in Cherokee County. One man was taken to the hospital with superficial injuries after being hit by flying debris.
Damage in Mississippi
Front Beach in Ocean Springs looked like a war zone Monday morning with waves pounding against the new sidewalk, and the beach itself buried under the turbulent surf. Debris was piled up as far the eye could see, WLOX reported. Heavy rains also hammered Biloxi and Pascagoula hampering what could have been a busy Labor Day weekend.
In Saucier, a possible tornado touched down damaging several homes.
Rupert Lacy, the emergency management director in coastal Harrison County, says at least five homes were damaged in Saucier. There were no immediate reports of injuries there.
Lacy said a man in Harrison County was taken to a hospital for injuries sustained when lightning traveled through a phone line.
He was expected to survive.
Authorities said wind also blew over a mobile home in Hancock County. Lynn Burse, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, said a possible twister damaged some trees in Lamar County about 8:05 a.m. Sunday. She said crews will go to the site to verify if it was a tornado. There were no reports of injuries or structural damage.
MDOT issued closures throughout the day Monday, alerting motorists of highways affected by high flood waters in Mississippi. In Rankin County – I-55 northbound, one-half mile north of I-20, the two inside lanes were temporarily closed because of high flood water, but later cleared for traffic.
Others highways in Scott, Rankin and Newton Counties were also closed due to Lee, but reopened to locals and holiday travelers.
MDOT officials reminded motorists to slow down and drive with “extreme caution” while driving on Mississippi’s highways, and not to drive through flooded areas.
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