Video: Storm Debris Scattered through Northeast Mississippi

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NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI (WCBI) – Insulation, siding, even a door. Debris from the storms has made its way around the area.

“We were looking up and saw things coming out of the clouds,” said West Lowndes County resident Carole Stewart.

“It’s incredible that we’re getting debris 20 to 30 miles from Winston County where the tornado touched down,” said WCBI Meteorologist Heather Sophia.

Storm debris is scattered. Viewer photos show a door landed on the Mississippi State University campus. It’s believed to have come from Louisville, about 25 miles from Starkville. Photographs and insulation were found in Starkville as well. Highway 25 is littered.

Ralph and Carole Stewart live in west Lowndes County. They had a three foot long piece of plywood paneling come down in front of their house.

“I was surprised really, but I could tell when I saw it coming down it was pretty good size chunk of something,” Ralph Stewart recalled.

“It fell faster than the leaves and pieces of trees that were small. That was pretty odd to see this stuff falling out of the sky,” said Carole Stewart.

“As the tornado is moving, it’s circulating. Debris is coming up into the storm, and that debris stays in the air. It’s got all the winds circulating around it. As the tornado is traveling and it weakens and falls apart, that debris starts falling,” Meteorologist Heather Sophia explains.

Experts say debris can travel more than 100 miles, it just depends on the strength of the storm.

“We’ve seen debris from storms in 2008 or 2009 where a piece of mail in Northeast Mississippi crossed the state line into Alabama. It can be very dangerous, it’s literally raining debris. Pieces seem so small when it’s up in the air, but when it gets really close to you, it’s very big. It could be a door or pieces of wood and you don’t want that to hit your head and injure you,” said Meteorologist Heather Sophia.

 

 

 

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