Survivors of tornadoes that struck Mississippi just after sunset Wednesday described moments of scrambling for cover as winds tore roofs from homes and scattered debris across neighborhoods in Purvis and Bogue Chitto, where damage left many residents searching through rubble on Thursday.
In Purvis, Anunciata Schwebel said she watched the storm unfold for her tenant and friend on FaceTime as the person slipped into a bathtub to take cover from “one of several tornadoes” that slammed into the area. Schwebel said she could see walls and roofs ripped away and people huddled in bathrooms, and she described seeing a line of people sitting in their tubs, which she said led her to think “people were dead.”
Authorities estimated that about 500 homes were damaged across five counties, and they reported at least 17 injuries. Meteorologists said the storms spawned at least three tornadoes across the bottom half of Mississippi that were visible on weather radar, and that additional tornadoes were possible.
Multiple survivors described sheltering under furniture and holding onto children as the homes took damage. At Coaltown Baptist Church in Purvis, members hunkered down in a hallway and sang and prayed until the storm passed, residents said.
In Bogue Chitto, Scott Simmons, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said a dozen people were hurt at a trailer park in rural Lincoln County. Survivors said most of the two dozen homes there were flattened into heaps of splintered boards and twisted metal, with residents picking through debris on Thursday morning under cloudy skies as a chain saw buzzed nearby.
Krystal Miller said she and six others—including babies as young as 4 weeks old—grabbed a Bible and sheltered in a hallway when the tornado sent their home cartwheeling. “We just flipped, and it threw us all out. It scattered everybody out. … I can’t find the Bible,” Miller said, adding that a young son was in the hospital for monitoring and another child was injured in the face. She said, “The trailer is in pieces but we made it out,” and that she was “feeling grateful.”
Other residents described realizing the danger only moments before it struck. Dmell Burnes said he did not realize his home was in the tornado’s path until seconds before it hit, and that while the frame inside a closet held as the walls and roof came apart, the family prayed during the shaking. “It was one of the most scariest moments of my life. Me and my daughter were praying,” Burnes said. “We’re just grateful to be alive.”
In the debris left behind, rescuers also found signs of life and loss among animals. A storm chaser walking through the wreckage early Thursday heard a meow but feared the worst when the cries stopped after a few minutes of searching, and later found a tiny kitten hiding between two wooden posts, according to the survivor who helped locate it.
National Weather Service meteorologist Daniel Lamb said at least three tornadoes caused significant damage and that investigators planned to survey additional areas to determine whether more tornadoes touched down. Gov. Tate Reeves urged residents to respond and recover, posting “Pray for Mississippi” and saying the state Emergency Management Agency was coordinating response efforts.
Damage also disrupted travel in southern Mississippi, with debris from the storms closing Interstate 55 and many other roads in Lincoln County. Reeves said a volunteer rescue group was providing a 50-person shelter and supplies to the county, which reported at least 200 damaged homes, and Lamar County to the southeast reported about 275 homes damaged, according to the Emergency Management Agency.
As residents surveyed wreckage in Bogue Chitto, Alisha Marbury said she felt her community was “blessed” because it appeared no one had died, noting that many people she knew at the trailer park had been away at work. “God spared us,” Marbury added. “Houses and homes and cars and stuff are replaceable, but your life ain’t.”