On the morning of Wednesday, March 17, the predictions were gloomy, at best, with one meteorologist stating the potential for a severe weather outbreak was the greatest since April 28, 2014, the day an EF-4 tornado devastated Winston County and Louisville.
However, as the afternoon passed into night it was apparent the predictions over estimated the local impact, and most of Winston County weathered the storm without incident.
Emergency Management Director, Buddy King, did report straight-line wind damage in the western part of the county, with trees down on a couple of houses and one hunting camp.
Highway 14 West was completely blocked by trees for about three hours as MDOT cleared the roadway, and about 300 EMEPA customers in that area were without power for a period of time.
Thankfully, there were no reports of injuries or fatalities.
King added his thanks to the residents of Winston County for remaining weather aware, and using the “perfect level of caution,” as the possibility of extreme, severe weather did exist.
Outside of Winston County, five recorded tornadoes in Mississippi and 18 in Alabama impacted ten Mississippi Counties (Clarke, Coahoma, Covington, Hinds, Lamar, Lincoln, Marion, Pike, Wayne and Yazoo) and 17 counties in Alabama. In addition to tornadoes, many of these areas experienced extremely heavy wind gusts and hail.
According to the Red Cross, as of March 20 across Mississippi and in Alabama:
• 21 homes were destroyed
• 29 homes received major damage
• 82 homes received minor damage
