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JACKSON — The National Weather Service said a strong storm system spawned three likely tornadoes that touched down Saturday in northeastern Mississippi, toppling trees and power lines, damaging a flea market building and peeling roofs off some homes.
No injuries or deaths were immediately reported.
It was the second weekend in a row for severe weather to pound Mississippi and other parts of the South.
Zwemer Ingram, a weather service meteorologist in the Memphis, Tenn. office, said trained storm spotters saw "very, very strong indications" of a tornado about 2 p.m. Saturday in Tippah County, Miss., between the communities of Blue Mountain and Ripley. The area is north of Tupelo.
He said another trained spotter saw a likely tornado a short time later seven miles north of Booneville, and law enforcement officers saw one two miles northwest of Iuka.
The likely tornadoes were part of a strong weather system that dumped heavy rain Saturday in Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi. Tornadoes touched down late Friday in central Arkansas, killing one.
The storms pushed through Mississippi a week after a powerful tornado left a nearly 150-mile swath of destruction in the central and northern parts of the state. The April 24 storms killed 10, injured at least 146 and damaged about 700 homes in Mississippi before killing two in Alabama.
Louann Rowland, a dispatcher with the Tippah County Sheriff's Department, said power lines fell Saturday on cars outside a flea market in Ripley, but there were no injuries. She said trees fell, some commercial buildings were damaged and one unoccupied mobile home rolled over.
Union County, Miss., emergency coordinator Steve Coker said that about 1:45 p.m., a storm pushed some trees into roads, toppled a couple of power lines and caused minor structural damage to a barn, a shed and a mobile home.
Ingram said the National Weather Service will send employees into northeastern Mississippi, possibly on Sunday, to confirm whether the damage there was caused by tornadoes or straight-line winds. He said that based on information he received Saturday, it appeared likely that tornadoes swept through.
Heavy rains flooded some roads across northern Mississippi, with water reported as high as vehicles' headlights in DeSoto County.
State Sen. Eric Powell, D-Corinth, said the rain gauge in his yard collected 5 inches of water from Friday night through late Saturday afternoon.
"Shortly after the rain come through, the sun popped out and it was shining," Powell said. "It clouded up again real quick."
5:35 p.m.: PSC's Brandon Presley says 6,000 Tippah EPA customers are without electricity.
4:54 p.m.: Kedrick Storey of the Southern Sentinel says many places in Ripley without power. There is a bad gas leak at 706 S. Main in Ripley. The leak happened after a tree fell and ripped the gas line in two. It all happened around 2 p.m. Kedrick said.
4:40 p.m.: Severe weather has struck Northeast Mississippi, along with other parts of the South, for a second straight weekend. As of mid-afternoon Saturday, however, no deaths or injuries were reported in Mississippi, compared to last weekend's 10 deaths in the state.
In Tippah County, high winds and a possible tornado downed trees and power lines and damaged roofs in several parts of the county, with the highest concentration around Dumas, said Sheriff’s Office Investigator Jason Willis.
The First Monday Trade Days – a monthly flea market that draws hundreds of vendors and thousands of shoppers – suffered extensive damage, according to a Tippah County dispatcher. Power was reportedly out throughout much of Ripley, and several gas line breaks were reported, although they apparently caused no fires.
In Union County, one house suffered unspecified damage and a mobile home was struck by a falling tree in the northeast part of the county on County Road 115, according to a Sheriff’s Office dispatcher. Union County officers also reported tornado-like damage in an uninhabited area on County Road 141. Power lines and trees were downed in several areas of the county.
Despite being in the line of the same storm, Alcorn and Tishomingo counties were largely spared in the first wave of the weekend’s severe weather. An Alcorn County dispatcher said no weather damage had been reported by mid-afternoon.
Tishomingo County deputies were dispatched to near Burnsville and along Highway 25 North, where the sightings occurred, but the damage they found was limited to “a couple of trees down,” a sheriff dispatcher said.
“We were lucky,” she said.
The National Weather Service in Memphis reports no weather-related deaths or injuries in the Mid-South since one person was killed early Saturday by a tornado, another was drowned and about two dozen more were injured in north-central Arkansas.
After the system passed through Northeast Mississippi, National Weather Service forecaster Zwemer Ingram in Memphis said the region would see a reprieve for a few hours.
“We’ll have a brief break in the weather, and then another system is going to move in late tonight and Sunday morning,” he said.
3:50 update from Tippah County EMA Director Tom Lindsey: It does appear that it was a tornado that touched down, but no confirmation.
There are a large number of people without power in the Ripley and Dumas areas, trees down and flash flooding.
The National Weather Service says it appears a tornado touched down Saturday afternoon in northeastern Mississippi.
No injuries were immediately reported.
Zwemer Ingram, a weather service meteorologist in the Memphis, Tenn. office, said trained storm spotters saw "very, very strong indications" of a tornado about 2 p.m. between the communities of Blue Mountain and Ripley.
In Tippah County, high winds and a possible tornado downed trees and power lines and damaged roofs throughout much of the county, but no injuries were immediately reported. The First Monday Trade Days – a montly flea market that draws hundreds of vendors and thousands of shoppers – suffered extensive damage. Power was reportedly out throughout much of Ripley, along with several reported gas line breaks, although no fires were immediately reported.
At 2 p.m. Tippah County Emergency Management Director Tom Lindsey said damage assessment from the strong storm that moved through the area is just beginning. In fact, the storm still has not moved out of the county yet, he said.
Early reports are that there is some power outage and possibly an unoccupied mobile home turned over between Ripley and Blue Mountain to the south.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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