Over 500 homes damaged and multiple injured during Saturday tornadoes

Over 500 homes were damaged and multiple people were injured as a result of the tornadoes and storms that hit Mississippi on Saturday.

According to MEMA:

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) received damage reports from 25 counties in response to the severe weather that impacted the state Saturday, January 11.

As of this afternoon, there are 9,169 power outages statewide, with the bulk of the outages coming in Bolivar, DeSoto, Sunflower, and Washington counties.

The following damage reports serve only as initial assessments from the county emergency management offices and can change (either higher or lower) as MEMA receives additional reports and assessments.

Initial damage reports by county (assessments ongoing):

• Bolivar – 107 homes damaged, three roads damaged, four injured
• Carrol – one home damaged, 10 roads damaged
• Chickasaw – one home damaged, 10 roads damaged
• Choctaw – 26 apartment units damaged, 10 roads closed due to debris, two closed due to flooding
• Coahoma – two homes damaged
• Copiah – one home damaged
• DeSoto – 210 homes damaged, five roads closed
  • EF-1 tornado from Tate into DeSoto County
  • EF-2 tornado

• Grenada – 10 homes damaged
• Hinds – 13 homes damaged
• Leflore – three homes damaged
• Leake – 10 roads closed due to flooding
• Lee – homes damaged, roads flooded
• Marshall – five homes damaged, three roads closed, one injured
• Monroe – one home damaged, 10 apartment units damaged, 15 roads closed
• Oktibbeha – 30 roads closed and/or flooded
• Panola – 50 homes damaged, 30 roads closed and/or flooded, one injury
• Prentiss – 54 homes damaged, five apartments damaged
• Quitman – eight homes damaged, four apartments damaged, one road closed
• Sunflower – homes damaged, five roads closed, six injured
• Tallahatchie – 30 homes damaged
• Tate – four homes damaged
  • EF-1 tornado into DeSoto County
• Tishomingo – three homes damaged, three roads closed
• Tunica – four homes damaged, four businesses damaged, 17 farms damaged, two injured
• Washington – 20 homes damaged, 50 apartments damaged, 10 roads closed, two injured
• Webster – three homes damaged, 15 roads closed

Shelters open

• Washington – Washington County Convention Center; 1040 S. Raceway Road, Greenville

State Assets/Resources Deployed

• Bolivar
  • 100 tarps
  • Nine pallets of water
  • Three area coordinators
• Copiah
  • 20 tarps

• DeSoto
  • 400 tarps
  • Disaster reservists (five teams of two)
  • Four pallets of water
  • MEMA debris specialist
• Hinds
  • 20,000 sandbags

• Panola
  • Tarps
  • One pallet of water
• Pike
  • One disaster reservist

• Quitman
  • One Area Coordinator
  • One water pump
  • Two generators
• Sunflower
  • One Area Coordinator
  • One generator
  • Tarps
  • Three pallets of water

• Tallahatchie
  • 50 tarps
  • One pallet of water
• Warren
  • 30,000 sandbags from United States Army Corps of Engineers

• Washington
  • One drone to capture video footage for damage assessments
• Webster
  • One Area Coordinator

The State Emergency Operations Center is activated and monitoring any requests or unmet needs from the county emergency management offices.

The public is encouraged to report damage to homes or businesses to their county emergency management office. A directory of all the offices is online at http://www.msema.org/county-ema/