CANTON, Miss. (AP) - At least 90 homes were damaged and by storms that blew through central Mississippi on Wednesday. Strong winds toppled trees onto some vehicles and peeled roofs off of buildings.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said it had received reports of 60 homes being damaged in Madison County, 25 homes in Rankin County and five homes in Scott County.
In Madison County north of Jackson, a steeple was torn off a church in the small town of Flora, hail fell near a Nissan manufacturing plant, the front of a building was ripped off in Canton and an oil-change and tire business was demolished near Gluckstadt.
Truckers were trying to sleep in their rigs near Parkway Quick Lube and Tire shop when they were awakened at about 2:30 a.m. by heavy winds and hail, the Clarion Ledger reported. Ivan Silas, a trucker from Memphis, Tennessee, said he worried his truck would be lifted into the air.
“Man, I was so scared,” Silas said. “I heard the hail and stuff, and the truck was shaking. That’s the first time I woke up like that, like ‘Man, what’s going on out there?’”
Madison County Schools and Canton Public Schools were closed Wednesday because of power outages and fallen trees, WAPT-TV reported.
At one point, about 21,000 customers were without electricity, MEMA said.
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