A strong storm ravaged much of the Pine Belt in the early morning hours of Monday and caused extensive tree and power line damage in the Bunker Hill community of Marion County, but no injuries have been reported. While many have suspected a tornado caused the damage in Bunker Hill, the National Weather Service, which is still investigating the storm, suspects the damage was instead caused by straight-line winds.
For miles along Mississippi 35, particularly between Williamsburg and Bassfield Cemetery roads, there was nothing but downed trees and power lines from the storm. The Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association reported there were nearly 10,000 members who lost power as a result, but that was reduced to 2,449 Monday night and further reduced to 737 by Tuesday afternoon.
“Areas around Bassfield were hit the hardest, and we count approximately 80 broken poles throughout our service territory,” Leif Munkel, manager of marketing, communications and member services, said in a statement. “We have all of our crews working, along with contract crews from MDR and Looks Great Services.”
National Weather Service surveyors were inspecting Marion and Lamar counties Tuesday to determine what kind of storm hit the area but were not going to have a report ready prior to Tuesday’s press deadline. A forecaster with the National Weather Service said there was not any circulation seen on radar in Marion County that would indicate a tornado and that it looked more like straight-line winds.
Marion County District 2 Supervisor John Moree said while he has not received official word yet, he believes it was a tornado because of the storm’s characteristics and the damage it left behind.
“You don’t get that from a straight-line wind. It was bad,” Moree said.
The forecaster said the Bunker Hill area received straight-line winds in the range of 80 to 90 mph. If it were a tornado, that would be classified as either an EF-0 tornado or EF-1 tornado. An EF-0 tornado caps at 85 mph, while an EF-1 begins at 86 mph.
“Sometime straight-line winds can produce damage that is consistent with an EF-0 tornado,” the forecaster said.
The surveyors were able to study the storm’s effects on Forrest County on Monday and determined the damage to be caused by straight-line winds. The forecaster said there was a three-mile stretch in that area with trees all blown down in the same direction, with its widest point being roughly a mile wide.
Moree said all the damage will eventually get cleaned up and that crews are working extremely hard to get all of the roads cleared. He reported several dead-end roads were blocked by downed trees and the residents on those roads were unable to get out for a while, but they were able to get those roads cleared on Monday.
The National Weather Service is expected to issue its final report on the status of the storm that hit Marion County by the end of the week.
