Early Morning Tornado Damages Homes In Monroe County

HATLEY, MISS. (WCBI) – A tornado causes damage throughout Monroe County early this morning.

Jim McCreary was watching from what was left of his deck, as friends were cutting and clearing downed trees on his property.

Around 2 Wednesday morning, McCreary and his wife, along with their dog, Little Bit, were all awake, as the storm blew through.

“We was watching the weather, thought it done passed,” McCreary said.

As soon as the tornado sirens sounded, Jim, Rhenda, and Little Bit headed to the storm shelter. It was delivered to his house, four days ago.

Was that a good investment?
“It was an excellent investment,” he said of the tornado shelter.

McCreary is thankful for those who came, with their own tools, and big equipment, to help out.

“They come over, they were working at Dave’s, then they come over here and started helping us, I didn’t know how we would get all this cleaned up, so I greatly appreciate it,” McCreary said.

The Hatley Volunteer Fire Chief and a county supervisor were part of the team helping clear the debris.

“We’re a small community, everyone does this because we love it, got big hearts, want to help our community, do everything that we can, it’s what you do in times of tragedy like this, come together and help your neighbors,” said Evan Adams, Chief of the Hatley VFD.

“We just heard about it last night, this morning and we just came down to help and brought our tractor, some of the guys who work with me all the time, and we wanted to come help, it’s what we do in the south, you know that,” said Monroe County District Two Supervisor B.R. Richey.

Insurance will take care of damage to McCreary’s roof and his deck. He is thankful that no one was hurt.

Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Crook says there were about seven homes damaged from the tornado.