Survivors of Mississippi tornadoes crawled under furniture and held onto their kids

BOGUE CHITTO, Miss. (AP) — Anunciata Schwebel could only watch in horror on FaceTime while her friend and tenant slunk into a bathtub to take cover from one of several tornadoes that slammed into Mississippi just after sunset Wednesday.

Her friend screamed that the windows were breaking. Schwebel could see on her screen the devastation to the cluster of cottages she owned in the town of Purvis — walls and roofs ripped away, her tenants huddled in their bathrooms.

“We could see a line of people sitting in their tubs,” Schwebel said Thursday. “We thought people were dead.”

Yet, for a second time in less than a month, a big burst of tornadoes caused no deaths. Authorities estimated that 500 homes were damaged across five counties Wednesday and said at least 17 people were injured. The powerful storms spawned at least three tornadoes across the bottom half of Mississippi that could be seen on weather radar, meteorologists said, possibly more.

Tornado flipped home and ‘scattered everybody’

Survivors told stories of crawling under furniture while winds tore off the roof and of hiding in a closet, holding on to a child. At Coaltown Baptist Church in Purvis, members hunkered down in a hallway, singing and praying until the storm passed.

A dozen people were hurt at a trailer park in the small community of Bogue Chitto, in rural Lincoln County, said Scott Simmons, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Most of the two dozen homes were flattened into heaps of splintered boards and twisted metal. People picked through the debris Thursday morning under cloudy skies as a chain saw buzzed in the background.

Krystal Miller and six others — including babies as young as 4 weeks old — grabbed a Bible and sheltered in their hallway when the tornado sent their home cartwheeling through the air.

“We just flipped, and it threw us all out,” she said. “It scattered everybody out. … I can’t find the Bible.”

Her young son was in the hospital for monitoring and another child was injured in the face, she said.

“The trailer is in pieces but we made it out,” Miller said. “I’m feeling grateful.”

Max Mahaffey was with his 59-year-old grandmother and watching TikTok videos on his phone when they realized the tornado was bearing down. They ran to the bathroom, but when the roof was torn off, they crawled to the living room and hid under a couch, he said.

“You heard screaming, glass breaking, horns honking — everything,” said the 15-year-old.

Survivors grateful to be alive

Dmell Burnes didn’t realize his home was in the tornado’s path until seconds before it struck. The house shook as he covered his 11-year-old daughter in his arms, but the frame inside the closet where they protected themselves held even as the home’s walls and roof came apart.

“It was one of the most scariest moments of my life. Me and my daughter were praying,” Burnes said while standing on what was left from his trailer. “We’re just grateful to be alive.”

Residents dug out jackets, school backpacks, Bibles and a watch — whatever was salvageable.

A storm chaser walking through the debris early Thursday heard a meow but feared the worst when the cries stopped after a few minutes of searching. But after picking through insulation, Ashton Lemley found a tiny kitten, hiding between two wooden posts.

“I’ve been in these situations so many times,” he said. “I don’t try to get overly emotional. But it is very heartbreaking to see any type of animal or human go through something like that.”

Debris closed interstate in southern Mississippi

National Weather Service meteorologist Daniel Lamb said at least three tornadoes caused significant damage. Investigators plan to survey other areas to determine if more touched down.

“Pray for Mississippi,” Gov. Tate Reeves posted online, saying the state Emergency Management Agency was coordinating response efforts.

Debris from the storms closed Interstate 55 and many other roads in Lincoln County. The governor said a volunteer rescue group was providing a 50-person shelter and supplies to the county, which reported at least 200 damaged homes.

Lamar County to the southeast reported about 275 homes damaged, according to the Emergency Management Agency.

Alisha Marbury was teary eyed as she surveyed the wreckage in Bogue Chitto. Still, she counted her community blessed since it appeared no one had died. Many of the people she knew at the trailer park had been away at work, she said.

“God spared us,” Marbury added. “Houses and homes and cars and stuff are replaceable, but your life ain’t.”

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Rico reported from Atlanta and McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed.