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U.S. NEWS Monday 25 February 2019

TORNADO generally remained stand- Officials said a mudslide
Continued from Front ing, sheds and outbuildings destroyed a Subway res-
In Knox County, Tennessee, were mostly demolished. taurant in Signal Mountain,
officials said a man died af- Lee Lawrence, who said he Tennessee. No injuries were
ter his vehicle became sub- has been selling used cars reported.
merged in high water. for decades in Columbus, In West Virginia, authorities
Saturday afternoon's torna- told The AP that four build- have evacuated 11 fami-
do in Columbus was con- ings on his car lot were de- lies in the southern part of
firmed on radar, said me- stroyed. He said trees top- the state after low-lying
teorologist Anna Wolverton pled across vehicles and areas flooded from heavy
with the National Weather car windows were blown rains. Workers cleaned up
Service in Jackson. She told out. from mudslides and high
The Associated Press that Lawrence said he was at wind warnings remained in Pastor Steve Blaylock looks over the broken lumber, loose pan-
eling, insulation, and destroyed pews in the First Pentecostal
experts were dispatched home getting ready to effect Sunday for much of Church in Columbus, Miss., Sunday morning, Feb. 24, 2019 after
Sunday to the east Missis- take a bath when the storm the state. More than 50,000 a Saturday tornado.
sippi city of about 23,000 struck. customers were without Associated Press
people to gauge the torna- "The wind all of a sudden power at one point, emer-
do's intensity. Officials said just got so strong and it was gency officials said, warn- floods poured into homes ens of streets and homes
a second, smaller twister raining so much you could ing driving would be diffi- and businesses. News out- flooded. A 6-mile (9-kilome-
damaged a mobile home hardly see out the door, cult in high winds and more lets report that officials ter) stretch of the Natchez
and a shed and snapped and I could hear a roaring. power lines could fall. in Grenada, Mississippi, Trace Parkway was closed
trees in a small community Evidently it came close," he In Bruce, Mississippi, rivers declared a local state in Mississippi after water
in the region that same af- said, speaking with AP in a broke flood stage and flash of emergency after doz- covered part of the road.q
ternoon as severe storms phone interview.
rolled through. "It will be a start-over deal,"
At First Pentecostal Church Lawrence said. "I can't say
in Columbus, the Rev. Steve it will come back better or
Blaylock said the building stronger, but we'll come
was "a total loss," with a back." A photographer
wall pushed in, holes in the working for The AP in Co-
roof and substantial water lumbus said some antique
damage. He and his con- cars on Lawrence's lot were
gregants tried to salvage resting in the debris of a de-
what they could on the stroyed building a nearby
morning after the storm. pet grooming business ap-
But he said they still held a peared now to be mostly
Sunday prayer service and twisted piles of metal. A
even went ahead with a printing shop had been
scheduled baptism, using a speared by a pipe.
borrowed portable baptis- Elsewhere around the
mal pool. South, homes, highways,
"We will rebuild. We've got parks and bridges were
a good church here," Blay- flooded or put out of com-
lock said. "It'll be a testimo- mission amid the heavy
ny of God." rains and severe storms.
Residents of one street on News outlets report that
the east side of Colum- water rescues have been
bus were out early Sunday performed in some Middle
morning with chain saws, Tennessee counties.
clearing away branches Interstate 40 near the Ten-
of the many trees that had nessee line with North
snapped or were uproot- Carolina was closed by a
ed in the storm. Metal sid- rockslide, one of the doz-
ing and roofing materials ens of roads and highways
were scattered throughout shut down throughout the
the neighborhood of older region, transportation offi-
homes. While the houses cials said.