Bank of Holly Springs
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Photo courtesy of Marshall County Sheriff's Department
This mobile home on Highway 4 West was destroyed as a severe thunderstorm rumbled through Marshall County January 11.
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Courtesy photo
There was significant tree damage on the property of Susan and Neal Cox, who live on Highway 4 West east of Chulahoma MB Church.
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Photo courtesy of Marshall County Sheriff's Department

Pictured is the backside of a mobile home that was destroyed on Highway 4 West in Marshall County

Stormy Saturday leaves behind damage

The worst damage during the early Saturday morning storm was in DeSoto County and Memphis, Tenn., with trees and poles down and widespread outages and in the Northcentral Electric Power Association's service area.

Damage in Marshall County was minimal, by comparison, according to Hugh Hollowell, emergency managefment coordinator. He and the coordinator with the

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency toured the Highway 4 West area making assessments. Early reports indicated as many as six homes were damaged.

"Red Cross has been in contact with several citizens," he said.

A mobile home was hit hard in the 5000 block of Highway 4 West, according to Maj. Kelly McMillen with the sheriff's department.

He said Ruthie and Mark Johnson, living in the mobile home, took cover under a couch and rode the storm out. Mark Johnson sustained cuts to his hands and wrists from breaking out glass so he and Ruthie could get out, McMillen said.

Susan and Neal Cox, who live on Highway 4 West just east of Chulahoma MB Church, remained safe with their dogs in their home, which had only minor damage. But about 100 adult pine trees on their certified tree farm were taken down.

County administrator Larry Hall said there was tree damage off Old Highway 4 West. A downed tree blocked the highway at McIntyre Chapel Road early Saturday morning.

Some scattered tree damage was reported in Barton and a pipe washed out on Lunati Road east of Holly Springs in District 5, Hall said.

Heavy rains and flooding covered some roads in Tippah River Bottom south of Potts Camp.

"We were very fortunate it wasn't any worse than it was," he said.

Tom Heineke of the Hudsonville Road area reported on Facebook he had just over 4.42 inches of rain in his gauge, which he said is very accurate.

Holly Springs Utility Department

Bill Stone, general manager with HSUD, said about 700 to 800 customers lost electricity at one time. "Outages were scattered with 12 here, half a dozen there," Stone said. The biggest outage, caused by lightning damage, was in the Coldwater Bottom area on Highway 7 North. About 200 customers were out at the peak of that outage, he said.

There was a line that went down at Potts Camp, as well.

And a tree fell on a line in the yard of a residence on Gordon Road, between Ashland and Snow Lake in Benton County, crushing two cars and barely missing a house. The event blew a fuse and everyone on the line lost power.

During the day Saturday after the storm passed, a large dead pine tree fell on a line in a hollow between Cedar Hill and Woodland Heights in Holly Springs. HSUD couldn't get its equipment in so linemen had to go in on foot. It was late in the night Saturday when power was restored to that area.

Despite the event, Stone said HSUD has been lucky in recent storms with not too much widespread outages. All employees went home safely Saturday night, he said.

Northcentral Electric

Hour-to-hour posts on Northcentral's Facebook page kept members apprised of the damages in the system due to the storm.

An initial report early Saturday morning showed about 10,000 without power.

Michael Bellipanni, with Northcentral, said at 8:05 Monday evening all members who were able to receive power had been reconnected. Less than a dozen members who must first repair weatherheads and any damages to the exterior of their houses, remained without electricity, he said.

He praised crews and contractors who worked together safely over three days to restore power to members.

"It's pretty remarkable," Bellipanni said. Northcentral will hold contractors for several days before letting them go on their way, he said, due to another possible storm system in the forecast for the area on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

"And there is still so much debris out there, you never know..." he said. "I never saw so much mud on Highway 305 just because of construction."

This brief recapitulation of outage information on Northcentral's Facebook page follows:

  • a report at 8:55 a.m. January 11 indicated crews cleared up a couple of outages affecting 6,000 members. At the time, 4,500 members were still out of power.

  • downed lines and major tree damage was reported. Crews and contractors were expected to work into the night Saturday to restore outages and then make up and set replacement poles. There was significant damage to "feeder" lines that bring power to the area of Cedar View, mainly around Dunn Lane and Stewart and Woolsey roads.

  • at 11 a.m. Saturday crews were working to restore power around Stewart Road and Dunn Lane. Some larger restorations around Stewart Cove, Fir Drive and Cypress Hollow were next on the list.

  • at 2 p.m. Saturday over 2,100 members were left to restore. A large majority of those remaining involved downed lines, broken poles and other damage that would take longer to restore. Debris needed clearing and utility poles replaced.

  • There were around 50 Northcentral employees working to restore power, and 25 contact line workers and 12 tree trimmers rounded out the crew. About 40 utility poles were broken and some extended outages were expected in these areas.

  • at 10 p.m. power was restored to over 70 more members and 78 members remained out of power. Some properties could not be restored until an electrician made repairs.

Memphis area About 38,000 customers were out of power Saturday morning after severe weather passed through the area, according to Memphis Light, Gas and Water reports. By 11 a.m. only 23,000 outages remained after the wind advisory was lifted. Downed utility poles and trees were responsible for the damages to homes and cars. The National Weather Service confirmed two tornadoes ripped through the Mid-South Saturday.

Holly Springs South Reporter

P.O. Box 278
Holly Springs, MS 38635
PH: (662) 252-4261
FAX: (662) 252-3388
www.southreporter.com