PRENTISS — Monday morning Pastor Sean Coney and a few parishioners were walking around what was left of James Hill Church on the outskirts of Prentiss off Mississippi 35 North.
A tornado destroyed the building Sunday, and debris was scattered all around. One could climb up the front steps, but the structure was no longer there.
“Our hearts are broken, but our faith is strong,” Coney said, standing in front of the remains. “Sometimes God takes away so He can give back.”
While Marion County received only minor damage from the Easter storms, its neighbors to the west and north were not so lucky. A long-tracked EF-4 tornado with winds up to 170 mph traveled through Walthall, Jefferson Davis, Covington and Jones counties.
Tuesday the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency reported another fatality that brings the death toll to 12. Among the fallen were Lawrence County Deputy Sheriff Robert Ainsworth and his wife, Paula. In true hero fashion, he was attempting to protect his wife when an EF-3 tornado struck their home.
In Carson, Roger Dyess and his wife had not been gone for 10 minutes when a tornado struck their home. They had just left it to stay with a friend, narrowly escaping the deadly storm. Dyess had a couple of motor homes that were on their sides and debris was scattered everywhere. He even had a cattle trailer that was blown across and down the road.
“I have seen a lot of storms and a lot of tornado but I have never been hit. This is twice as worse than Katrina,” Dyess said before adding, “It’s good; we were blessed.”
Dyess had a couple of truck trailers that were loaded. He said one of the trailers hit a power line before landing on its side.
Standing with Roger Dyess was a friend of his, Benjamin Kitchens. Kitchens was sitting in his recliner, and his daughter was cooking dinner. He said he had just gotten up from his seat when a limb came through the mobile home. It blew out the back door. Kitchens had put all of his yard equipment in his barn to protect it from the weather, and the tornado destroyed his barn. He said he hadn’t checked the equipment yet to see what, if any, was destroyed.
Noland and Emmitt Buckley were at their home when the tornado hit on the outskirts of Prentiss off of Mississippi 35 North on Granby Road. They were sitting outside when the bad weather came through. They immediately took cover, and their home received substantial damage.
On the other side of Mississippi 35 North on Son Bud Lane, debris covered slabs were visible. Phillip Reese said he and his wife had gone into town to get their two-week supply of groceries so they could stay home with social distancing and had just finished putting everything up. He grabbed his wife and went to one of the bathrooms for shelter.
“My wife, when the house started trembling, she tried to get up and get out of there, I caught her and pulled her down,” Reese said. He covered her to keep the debris from hitting her.
Reese said they were listening to the radio eating potato chips when his wife walked to window to look out. He heard something and grabbed his wife to take cover Reese said standing outside of what is left of his home. In the front of the house, a piece of wood had impaled the siding of the front of his house.
“In 68 years that I have been here, all the events you see and hear about on T.V. I said one day He is going to hit us. Yesterday was the day,” he said.
Reese said God is good; a month ago he and his wife were in a bad car accident but no one was hurt.
According to the figures released by MEMA on Tuesday morning, the total fatalities included:
Jeff Davis County - 4
Jones County - 3
Lawrence County - 2
Carroll County – 1
Panola County – 1
Walthall County – 1.
A total of 30 counties have submitted damage reports to MEMA. More than 500 homes and mobile homes were either destroyed or received damage.
According to the Pearl River Valley Electric Association’s website, 93 members were still without power Tuesday afternoon, down from more than 1,800 immediately after the storms hit Sunday.
