On a day when millions of Americans were traveling to see their families and friends for Christmas, a line of fast-moving storms threatened residents from the Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley.
A large and extremely dangerous tornado moved through northwest Mississippi, the National Weather Service said Wednesday evening. The tornado touched down near Clarksdale, the service said.
There were reports of major damage to buildings in Sardis, about 45 miles east of Clarksdale, and in Holly Springs, more than 90 minutes to the northeast.
A 7-year-old Mississippi boy died in Wednesday’s outbreak of severe weather, Marshall County Coroner James Anderson said. Anderson said the boy was in a car with his family near Holly Springs, where a tornado came through the area. The coroner didn’t have details on how the boy died, but confirmed that it was storm-related.
At least 40 people across six Mississippi counties were injured in the storms, according to Greg Flynn, a spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
At least four people were injured in the unincorporated area of Coahoma County known as Bellview, Board of Supervisors President Paul Pearson said. One person was in critical condition, he said.
Video from CNN affiliate WREG showed three houses in Como, just north of Sardis, that were badly damaged. Another looked to be a total loss.
Panola County Sheriff Dennis Darby told the Memphis, Tennessee-based station that no one was injured in that area.
“That’s the best news ever, the best news ever,” said Jeanine Hendrix, whose late father built the houses. Her husband was the only person at their home when the tornado hit and blew “tons of Mr. Matson’s house through the yard.”
She said the people who lived in the house that was destroyed weren’t home. She wasn’t sure whether they were out of town.
There was one minor injury nearby, Darby said, to the driver of a tractor-trailer that was blown over on Interstate 55.
Daniel Cole, the county’s director of emergency management told CNN that in a separate wreck another motorist was injured when the tornado barreled through.
“It was on the ground all the way through the county,” said Cole. He added that in the county, which is 800 square miles, two homes had been destroyed and five damaged.
The storms killed one other person. An 18-year-old woman in Arkansas died Wednesday morning when a tree fell through her roof. Four other people in the house, including an 18-month-old, survived. The baby was hospitalized.
About 45 million people could be affected by the storms, which prompted a string of tornado warnings and watches in nine states. There also were watches and warnings for severe thunderstorms and flash floods.
The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, issued a Particularly Dangerous Situation tornado watch for the following areas: southeast Arkansas, far northeastern Louisiana, northern and western Mississippi, and western Tennessee. The watch area includes all the Memphis metropolitan area. The watch is in effect until 9 p.m. ET.
The Particularly Dangerous Situation wording is used in tornado watches for rare situations when long-lived, intense tornadoes are likely. PDS watches are issued when in the opinion of the forecaster, the likelihood of significant events is boosted by very volatile atmospheric conditions.
The primary threats include several tornadoes with a few intense tornadoes likely, scattered damaging wind gusts to 75 mph, and isolated large hail, the Storm Prediction Center said.
Some storms were moving at 55 to 60 mph. One tornado had been spotted in Mississippi.