http://djournal.com/news/tornado-touches-down-amory/
AMORY – A tornado briefly touched down in Amory on Monday morning, affecting homes in a 25-block radius of the downtown area.
No one was killed or injured.
Monroe County Emergency Management Director Robert Goza said two homes were destroyed, 11 had major damage and 52 sustained minor damage.
The storm that hit around 9:30 a.m. uprooted trees at three major points, beginning at the First United Methodist Church in Amory, the area around Amory Middle School and Amory’s McAlpine Lake neighborhood.
There also was damage to the West Amory Elementary School and Early Learning Center, and two businesses had minor damage.
“It didn’t hit a big area,” said Sherriff Cecil Cantrell. “It just sort of sat down and blew a lot of trees around. Now there’s lots of flooding because of debris blocking drains and things. But there were no injuries as far as we know, unless somebody gets hurt trying to clean it up.”
Damage also was reported on Coontail and McAllister roads in Wren and across Highway 25 outside of Smithville. Some boats also were damaged at the marina there.
Justin Gibson, Sean McIntosh and John Callahan of the Amory Electric Department worked diligently to repair broken power lines around the First Methodist Church as soon as the storm had subsided. A large tree from the parsonage across the street had been blown across the road, blocking traffic.
“There are lots of trees down, but I don’t think there’s much damage,” Gibson said. “Those straight-line winds are probably what blew the trees down.”
The National Weather Service confirmed it that an EF0 tornado touched down briefly southwest of Amory, then an EF1 tornado touched down for 2.5 miles from Amory to the northeast toward Smithville.
FUMC member Bobbi Barnett, who lives just a few houses down from the church, emerged to check on the church as soon as she could. Anyone who was around in 2011, she said, is still very much wary of the weather since the EF-5 storm devastated nearby Smithville that year. Seventeen people were killed in Monroe County as a result of that tornado.
“It was just strange,” she said of Monday’s storm. “This storm this morning came up so quick. No thunder, no lightning, nothing.”
Over near the middle school, Michelle Hawkins agreed, as she watched chainsaw crews and a county worker in a back hoe shift debris from the street.
“There was hardly any time to get to shelter,” Hawkins said. “It hit just a few seconds after the sirens went off.”
Chainsaw worker Zack Jones said he saw the tornado swirling in the air, from his job at Riverbirch, just before it hit. Having experience with tools, Jones was one of many who appeared to lend a hand as soon as the storm let up. He and a slew of others worked on a house on North 7th Street, the worst-hit house on the road.
“I live around the corner, you know, I know these people,” Jones said. “This house is the only one I’ve seen with serious damage, but it’s got a tree on the front and the back. We’re trying to break it down without collapsing the house.”
For now, the Amory Police Department has blocked traffic through most of the affected area, and are asking the public to refrain from crowding the nearby streets.
“Like we said, no reports of injuries, so I guess the warning gave people just enough time,” said Lt. Nick Weaver. “Right now we’re working to get the roadways back open, then fix the power lines, then start working on getting folks’ yards cleaned up.”
“It’s a big mess,” said chainsaw worker Will Fredrick, “But thank God nobody was hurt.”
Fewer than 200 of the city electric system’s 8,000 customers lacked power late Monday, Mayor Brad Blalock told the Associated Press. Officials with the Monroe County Electric Power Association said about 1,500 of their 12,500 customers also lost power at one point, although all cooperative customers who could accept electricity had their lights back on Monday evening.
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Robert Latham briefed Gov. Phil Bryant and plans to travel to Amory Tuesday to meet with city officials. MEMA has an area coordinator working in Amory to assist with state resources if necessary.
Residents that sustained damage from the storm should call Monroe County Emergency Management Agency at (662) 369-3683.
― Carly Furiosa (WilliamC), Tuesday, 26 May 2015 16:13 (nine years ago) link
Local to my hometown: Mayor since Jan 1987 has resigned from office before the end of his term. Adios Mayor Don.
― Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Friday, May 8, 2015 4:44 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark
story has gotten much worse since this post. events will be listed in chronological order.
Because there were no deputy mayors, a guy named Moneypenny (forget his position, something in city council?) was inaugurated at the end of May
Five or six days later, he confessed to having touched a colleague "inappropriately" during the time between the long-term mayor's unexpected resignation and his inauguration (lots of speculation about this, too much to note)
A week or so after that, he straight up resigned, making him the shortest term-serving mayor
The president of city council, who has no idea how to be mayor, is now the mayor for the remainder of the long-term mayor's term
Long term mayor is MIA and has been seen wearing a neck brace for no publicized reason
Petitions to run for the office are due at 4pm today, field of candidates is growing like a pervasive fungus, including some guy who calls himself Hunk@ Kaboom
meanwhile, ppl are going bananas over hometown basketball hero (understandably) and no one seems too concerned about the state of the city
:(
― Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Wednesday, 10 June 2015 14:13 (nine years ago) link