Tornado injures 20, destroys buildings

MAGEE, Miss. (AP) — Residents in a tornado-ravaged community took advantage of clearing skies Thursday to collect family keepsakes and begin cleaning up from a storm that left 20 injured and dozens of homes and businesses flattened.

But Magee, a town of about 5,000 in south-central Mississippi’s pine forests, may not have much time to begin serious cleanup as another storm system with the potential for more destruction was expected to be over Mississippi late Thursday or early Friday.

While families were busy moving debris from around homes and covering exposed ceilings, the steady grinding of chain saws echoed through the community as utility crews cleared fallen trees from power lines.

Magee Mayor Jimmy Clyde said the community was in the early stages of assessing the destruction from a pre-dawn twister that smashed through dozens of homes and apartment duplexes and damaged two churches.

The twister smashed through Magee around 1:30 a.m. as severe thunderstorms rumbled across the Southeast. Power blackouts affected tens of thousands of Louisiana residents, and authorities reported damage to some Alabama homes. Georgia residents also braced for potentially heavy rains.