Watching from the deathplace of Elvis.
Overshare?
-Eric
Posted on 05/08/2008 9:49:40 AM PDT by MississippiMan
A tornado has hit Tupelo, MS. If anyone on the ground has more info, please share.
Thx...
MM
Birthplace of Elvis. Hope everyone is safe.
Watching from the deathplace of Elvis. Not many details yet.
I am in Memphis now and just heard about this. Prayers up to my fellow Mississippians!
A mall, a large hardware store, a medical complex and a Mississippi Department of Transportation district office are among the buildings damaged this morning by an unconfirmed tornado that struck the Tupelo area.
If confirmed, this would be the the eighth tornado to hit Mississippi this month, according to the National Weather Service. Last year, no tornadoes were reported in May.
MDOT workers in the northern district were already at work when the storm hit their office.
“The building is still standing, despite what people are saying,” MDOT employee Dusty Meaks said. “There are a lot of trees down and some metal off the roof.”
Meaks said he didn’t see a tornado but did see straight line winds.
The tornado was first reported at 8:04 a.m., three miles west of Tupelo.
“The tornado came through the southwest from Pontotoc (County),” Lee County Chief Deputy John Hall said. “It came across the airport and up through the north part of Tupelo.”
Initial reports after the storm hit were that people may be trapped in those buildings. But emergency workers say that is no longer a concern.
So far, no injuries have been reported.
Hall said the tornado traveled through a rural area before striking the business district along U.S. 45, known as Barns Crossing. Fallen trees and downed power lines make up most of the damage in the rural area, he said.
“An 18-wheeler turned over on U.S. 45,” Hall said. “And there’s a doctor’s complex with offices and a clinic where a tree blew over. The tree fell and blew a car on top of the tree.”
Mississippi Emergency Management Executive Director Mike Womack said he is sending a team to Tupelo once the storm clears.
The Salvation Army has sent mobile feeding units to the Furniture Market on
Coley Road to offer warm meals to people affected by the storm.
Salvation Army officials will decide at the end of the day whether they will
continue feedings or other assistance.
Meanwhile, a number of northeast Mississippi counties and portions of northwest Alabama were under a tornado watch until mid-afternoon, with the possibility of severe storms elsewhere, according to the National Weather Service.
Areas of Mississippi, including the Jackson metropolitan area, have suffered damage in recent weeks as storm systems packing tornadoes slammed the state.
The National Weather Service in Jackson said the biggest threat in its coverage area included the possibility of large hail and damaging winds. The culprit is a cold front that advanced on the state from the west, bringing showers and thunderstorms.
Joanne Culin, a spokeswoman for the weather service, said most of the severe weather should end west of I-55 by late in the day.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
To comment on this story, call Kathleen Baydala at (601) 961-7262.
Tupelo had a horrific tornado strike back in 1936 - fourth most deadly tornado in US history.
Not the first time for that proud city. One struck when Elvis was just a baby.
GMTA, see my post #9.
Bet the Tupelo-ites are all shook up!
(I cannot believe I’m the first to post that.)
My grandmother lives in Tupelo.
I gotta check on her.
TUPELO, Miss. - An apparent tornado in Tupelo, Miss., damaged a shopping mall and downed power lines on Thursday morning.
There weren’t any reported injuries from the storm, although authorities were getting reports of fallen trees and debris across the area. Officials were dispatched to check out the damage.
Officers spotted a possible tornado moving in and out of the clouds, the Lee County sheriff’s office said. Weather officials will have to confirm that the storm was a twister.
I hope your grandma’s ok. I hope there are no deaths at all.
A mall, a large hardware store, a medical complex and a Mississippi Department of Transportation district office are among the buildings damaged this morning by a tornado that struck the Tupelo area.
The tornado was first reported at 8:04 a.m. CDT, 3 miles west of Tupelo.
“The tornado came through the southwest from Pontotoc (County),” Lee County Chief Deputy John Hall said. “It came across the airport and up through the north part of Tupelo.”
Initial reports after the tornado hit were that people may be trapped in those buildings. But emergency workers say that is no longer a concern.
So far, no injuries have been reported.
Hall said the tornado traveled through a rural area before striking the business district along U.S. 45, known as Barns Crossing. Fallen trees and downed power lines make up most of the damage in the rural area, he said.
“An 18-wheeler turned over on U.S. 45,” Hall said. “And there’s a doctor’s complex with offices and a clinic where a tree blew over. The tree fell and blew a car on top of the tree.”
Mississippi Emergency Management Executive Director Mike Womack said he is sending a team to Tupelo once the storm clears.
Meanwhile, a number of northeast Mississippi counties and portions of northwest Alabama were under a tornado watch until mid-afternoon, with the possibility of severe storms elsewhere, according to the National Weather Service.
If the Presley family had stayed in Tupelo, maybe Elvis would have spent his whole life there, and instead of dying at 42 would now be a retired 73-year-old living in a trailer (having lost his house in a divorce) with his hunting dogs, and getting on the TV news only if a tornado demolished his trailer.
There was a reason for it but can't remember what it was.
I've heard that Elvis might be dead.
What about “Onepelo”?
Around 8am? The mall and the hardware store probably weren’t open yet.
Just goes to show you can't believe everything you hear. Somebody in the postal service wanted to issue an Elvis stamp, so they spread the rumor he was dead so they could issue the stamp.
Didn't Bobbie Gentry's brother marry Becky Thompson and buy a store in Tupelo?
You ain’t nuthin but a hound dog!.............
Watching from the deathplace of Elvis.
Overshare?
-Eric
I was actually behind Elvis in a grocery store here in Nashville a couple of years ago.
Where’s Kim Bassenger when you need her?
Posting from a city Elvis once visited. Looking for more details.
The global warming insert: “Last year, no tornadoes were reported in May.”
That aside, I pray everyone is safe.
LOL!!!
Memphis: where we have celebrations for the death of Elvis and Martin Luther King Jr.
I’ve lived here a long time and never understood that.
(Glad to see that damage to people appears light.)
The one in 1989 hit about a mile from here. My husband was coming home from work and just as he went under a traffic light, all electricity was lost in that area. My former choir director was in a store and it was nearly destroyed and the clock stopped about 4:39. I have never seen such damage. Most of a shopping center was hit and one building was totally destroyed. Cars were piled on top of others, trees were down, homes were destroyed, a school was hit but the kids inside were ok. Checks from here were found in eastern TN.
Damage to Furniture Market, MDOT building, Lowes, Jim Walter Homes, Scruggs Outdoor. Track took it just north of Tupelo airport. My workplace is righ beside the airport. I have some pics but will have to wait until I am at home and out from behind our firewall to be able to post.
Have not heard any reports of casualties but there was one report that there were people trapped inside of the MDOT building.
According to the Tupelo newspaper, Building D of the Miss. Complex which is Tupelo Furniture Market’s Miss. Complex was destroyed. That is a very important business for Tupelo since it is where furniture manufacturers come to show off new products. My nephew was in MT and he came there before moving back to MS.
We share birthdays.
I was in Air Force basic training when Elvis left the building. Didn’t hear about it until 3 days afterward.
It was pretty bad this morning, Alcorn County, Union County, Lee County, Prentiss County, Itawamba County and Tishomingo County were all visited this morning with tornado warnings. Right now the sun is out and its clear....
I always hate when they say a “storm” or a “storm system” WAS a tornado.
It wasn’t a storm that was a tornado.
It was a storm that SPAWNED a tornado.
Big diff...... The tornado and storm itself are not the same thing. A tornado just comes from the storm sometimes, but not often.
Yall keep your heads down over there. This system is packing a mean punch.
Post later to let us know you made it through ok.
Hey, you stay safe! We need you around here! :)
Grey is Tornado Watch,btw.Red is Warning.At least on WHNT 19.
It picked up the big double-wide of my neighbors that I had gone to to wake them up, and then set it back down. It picked up, made a right turn and broke in half some mature oak trees, and dug a furrow in the ground that we followed for miles the next day. I was praying like crazy, and no one was killed.
They are no fun and we do take our warnings seriously around here.
See. It’s alway winding in New Mexico in May.
winding = windy.
SOme funky shaped counties in that NM map.
Maybe there was some stealth redistricting done to make it easier of Udall to beat Pearce.
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