Mississippi County Reports 15 Hurt in Storm

Fifteen people have been injured in a storm system that swept through parts of Jones County on Wednesday, causing damage to dozens of homes and buildings in an area north of Laurel.

Only one person was taken to a hospital. No deaths have been reported.

County emergency director Don McKinnon said the path of the damage was narrow but stretched for miles. The most serious damage happened around Mississippi Highway 15 on the northern fringe of Laurel and near the Shady Grove community.

He said that about 35 homes and fewer than 10 commercial structures had been damaged. He said about five homes and a few buildings were destroyed.

McKinnon said some people were trapped for a time in houses that trees had fallen on, or in mobile homes that were tossed off their foundation.

“There were no fatalities, so it’s a good day,” McKinnon said.

He said as many as 2,500 electric customers, mostly served by Laurel-based Dixie Electric Power Association, were without power. He said it could take until Thursday to restore the power.

In neighboring Jasper County in the area of the Mossville community, one house, a mobile home and four chicken houses were destroyed, said Jasper County EMA Director Mike Lucas. He said three other structures were damaged. Lucas said no injuries were reported.

National Weather Service officials said teams were on the scene assessing damage from the Jones-Jasper storm, as well as a second storm that hit Marion and Jefferson Davis counties. Neither has yet been confirmed as a tornado.

Brenda Saulters, the town clerk in Bassfield, said that trees were down south of the Jefferson Davis County town and that power was out for a time this morning. A sheriff’s dispatcher in Marion County said that some structures were damaged in the Bunker Hill community in the northern part of that county.