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Weekend Tornadoes Rip Through Mississippi

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Tornado damage in Jasper County, Mississippi
National Weather Service - Jackson

Homes were destroyed and property damaged. But no injuries or loss of life resulted from this weekend's dangerous storms, as MPB's Ezra Wall reports.

Six tornadoes struck Mississippi as a series of dangerous storms passed through on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. The strongest tornado was the EF-2 that struck Rose Hill in Jasper County.

Greg Flynn is with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. "It appears that Jasper County was the hardest hit; they had 10 homes that were destroyed. The majority of Jasper County homes that were destroyed were mobile homes. You know, that's one of the main reasons that we tell folks to take those weather warnings seriously, to get out of mobile homes. And that was a prime example as to why. Thank God we have no injuries there, but those folks are going to need assistance picking the pieces up."

Flynn says that assistance will likely not come from the federal government. "Anybody that's lost their home, it's the worst thing that's ever happened to them. But on a federal scale, this wouldn't rise to any level of federal disaster declaration. So we're going to be really leaning on the volunteer agencies, nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations that can help these folks out - the ones who did not have insurance - so that we can find a way to get them put back together."

In addition to Jasper County, tornadoes also struck Covington, Lauderdale, Lawrence and Newton Counties.