Mississippi Tornados Leaves At Least 15 Injured

Two tornados touched down in Mississippi early Thursday morning, leaving at least 60 homes damaged, several buildings destroyed and at least 15 injured.

One tornado hit outside of Jackson in Magee, Mississippi around 4 a.m. while the other struck in Lauderdale County. Tress and power lines were down throughout the state.

Two people were airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. At least a dozen others were being treated at Magee General Hospital. No deaths have been reported.

Governor Haley Barbour has declared a state of emergency.

Magee Mayor Jimmy Clyde said Thursday he received no reports of any deaths from the early morning storm. He says search and rescue teams are still scouring heavily damaged neighborhoods.

Heavy fog hampered rescue teams as they tried to determine the extent of the damage. Thunderstorms rumbled across several Southeast states on Thursday, causing power outages, downing trees and producing scattered flooding.

Downed power lines and scraps of metal and fallen tree limbs littered roads and highways leading from the Mississippi town of Magee, prompting state transportation officials to warn motorists to stay off affected routes as rescue crews sought to reach any victims. The tornado struck on a day when a powerful series of thunderstorms rumbled across several Southeast states.

"We'd like to have some helicopters in the air pointing us in the right direction, but we can't do that until this fog lifts," state Public Safety Commissioner Steve Simpson said.

Other reports of downed trees, power lines and damaged homes came in across the Deep South, caused by the band of heavy thunderstorms and high winds moving across the region. In Louisiana, storms knocked out electricity to about 40,000 customers.

At least 60 homes suffered varying degrees of damage. Gunby said the nearby Corinth Baptist Church was destroyed: "Only the doors to its sanctuary were left standing."

Officials were concerned that the storms' timing could mean there are more injuries.

"Tornadoes are such powerful, fast storms and when they hit at this time of year at night when people are sleeping, people might not have been able to get to interior rooms, safe places or shelters fast enough," Gunby added. "So we are going to be watching out for that and I suspect we will be taking more people to hospitals today."

Members of the 100-year-old Corinth Baptist Church stepped around the rubble of the red brick building perched on a hilltop overlooking the pine forests of south-central Mississippi, consoling one another.

Others walked through a nearby cemetery littered with broken tree limbs and tombstones knocked to the ground. Shredded pieces of artificial flowers from the gravesites were strewn all about and a white church van was overturned nearby.

A tearful Maegan Errington, 23, said Thursday was her birthday and she was to be married in the church on Saturday. Church member Charlene Loyd, 58, hugged her and patted her on the back.

"Our church is still here, because our church is the people, but the building is gone," Loyd said.

Magee Mayor Jimmy Clyde told NBC's "Today" show that the town about 40 miles southeast of Jackson was in "dire straits."

"We have no power," he said. "Most of the roads into and out of our city are blocked. It damaged our water supply. We don't know the extent of the damage as of yet, because we're waiting for daylight."

Another reported tornado touched down in Mississippi's Lauderdale County on Wednesday night, heavily damaging nine homes and a business, but no injuries were reported, MEMA officials said.

High winds blew down trees overnight in central Alabama, damaging at least three homes in two counties, but no injuries were reported.

In Louisiana, power companies worked to restore electricity to thousands of customers after severe thunderstorms raked the state. There were some reports of damage to rooftops from high winds and flood roads after heavy amounts of rain fell in some areas in a short period. The National Weather Service also warned that tides pushed up by blustery winds would be higher than normal along the state's Gulf Coast.