JACKSON - At least one person was killed and dozens injured after a band of violent storms rolled across Mississippi, leaving many without electricity after knocking down trees and power lines, officials say.
A Crawford man was killed Sunday after the storms swept into Lowndes County, Larry Miller, director of Columbus-Lowndes Emergency Management, said today.
Miller said he could not release the man's identity.
"He was out warning his neighbors about the weather. He went back to his trailer and it turned over and landed on him," Miller said Monday. "That's the report that we have. That has not been verified by our office."
Miller said about 30 other injuries, requiring medical treatment, were reported in the county.
The National Weather Service in Jackson said it had not confirmed that any tornados touched down Sunday.
"We had widespread damage," said meteorologist Dave Biggar of the National Weather Service. "Another area was in Winston County, where numerous trees and power lines are down. We had a minor injury when a tree fell on a truck and a driver was injured."
Biggar said survey teams on Monday would begin work to confirm if tornados caused the damage.
"The city of Columbus was fairly hard hit," said Miller. "We still have roads closed. A lot of power lines down and trees on houses."
Miller said many Columbus residents would be without power for a few days.
The storm left more than 1,900 Entergy customers statewide without power, said Checky Herrington, a company spokesman. Most of the outages were in Kosciusko, Lexington, Vicksburg, Grenada and Brookhaven, he said.
Herrington said Entergy had hoped to have all the power restored by Monday.
Biggar said there was a chance of rain Monday night, but there was no threat of severe weather.
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