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Tornado hits Tupelo, MS

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


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS: tornado; tupelo; weather
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1 posted on 05/08/2008 9:49:40 AM PDT by MississippiMan
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To: MississippiMan

Birthplace of Elvis. Hope everyone is safe.


2 posted on 05/08/2008 9:50:26 AM PDT by Retired Greyhound
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To: Retired Greyhound

Watching from the deathplace of Elvis. Not many details yet.


3 posted on 05/08/2008 9:51:13 AM PDT by Ingtar (Haley Barbour 2012, Because he has experience in Disaster Recovery. - ejonesie22)
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To: MississippiMan

I am in Memphis now and just heard about this. Prayers up to my fellow Mississippians!


4 posted on 05/08/2008 9:52:08 AM PDT by Sybeck1 (It's truly bad when your Savior in November is Judas Himself.)
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To: MississippiMan

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/NEWS/80508009&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

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.


5 posted on 05/08/2008 9:52:41 AM PDT by Southern Partisan ("Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less." ----R. E. Lee)
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To: MississippiMan

Tupelo had a horrific tornado strike back in 1936 - fourth most deadly tornado in US history.


6 posted on 05/08/2008 9:52:45 AM PDT by dirtboy
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To: MississippiMan

Small Memphis based blurb.

http://www.wmctv.com/global/story.asp?s=8289654


7 posted on 05/08/2008 9:52:50 AM PDT by Ingtar (Haley Barbour 2012, Because he has experience in Disaster Recovery. - ejonesie22)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: Retired Greyhound; MississippiMan
Birthplace of Elvis. Hope everyone is safe

Not the first time for that proud city. One struck when Elvis was just a baby.

Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak, 1936

9 posted on 05/08/2008 9:53:15 AM PDT by Pyro7480 ("If the angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion." -M. Kolbe)
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To: dirtboy

GMTA, see my post #9.


10 posted on 05/08/2008 9:53:44 AM PDT by Pyro7480 ("If the angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion." -M. Kolbe)
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To: MississippiMan

Bet the Tupelo-ites are all shook up!

(I cannot believe I’m the first to post that.)


11 posted on 05/08/2008 9:54:36 AM PDT by Xenalyte (Can you count, suckas? I say the future is ours . . . if you can count.)
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To: MississippiMan

My grandmother lives in Tupelo.

I gotta check on her.


12 posted on 05/08/2008 9:56:19 AM PDT by Tex Pete (Obama for Change: from our pockets, our piggy banks, and our couch cushions!)
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To: MississippiMan

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.


13 posted on 05/08/2008 10:04:27 AM PDT by kcvl
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To: Tex Pete

I hope your grandma’s ok. I hope there are no deaths at all.


14 posted on 05/08/2008 10:05:50 AM PDT by cake_crumb (Obama's bus needs a lift kit just to clear all the bodies!)
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To: MississippiMan

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.


15 posted on 05/08/2008 10:06:03 AM PDT by kcvl
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To: Pyro7480

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.


16 posted on 05/08/2008 10:06:28 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: MississippiMan
I recall many years ago in a college geography class, the professor mentioned that a strip across Northern Mississippi and Alabama gets some of the most powerful tornadoes in the world.

There was a reason for it but can't remember what it was.

17 posted on 05/08/2008 10:11:43 AM PDT by yarddog
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To: Retired Greyhound
"Birthplace of Elvis. Hope everyone is safe."

I've heard that Elvis might be dead.

18 posted on 05/08/2008 10:11:48 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: MississippiMan

What about “Onepelo”?


19 posted on 05/08/2008 10:14:43 AM PDT by dfwgator (Go Stars!)
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To: kcvl

Around 8am? The mall and the hardware store probably weren’t open yet.


20 posted on 05/08/2008 10:14:47 AM PDT by CindyDawg
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