Severe storms that included at least two confirmed tornadoes injured several people on Wednesday, damaged homes and businesses and downed power lines in Mississippi and Tennessee after they spread damage in Arkansas, Missouri and Texas overnight before moving to the Deep South.
No deaths had been reported from the storms as of Wednesday evening, officials said. About 185,000 customers were without electricity Thursday morning in the wake of the storm along a band of states: Mississippi and Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio and Michigan, according to poweroutage.Us, which tracks utilities. But widespread damage was reported in the Jackson, Tennessee, area as a tornado warning was in effect.
"Significant damage" occurred to a nursing home near Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and the Madison County Sheriff's Office in Jackson, said Madison County Emergency Management Director Jason Moore.
In Nashville, Tennessee, panelling fell five stories from the side of a downtown hotel Wednesday evening and onto a roof of a building below.
The fire department warned the debris could become airborne as high winds continued, and some hotel guests were moved to other parts of the building due to concerns that the roof would become unstable. No injuries were immediately associated with the collapse.
A warehouse roof collapsed as the storms moved through Southaven, Mississippi, near Memphis, police said. The building had been evacuated and no injuries were reported.
The Mississippi Senate suspended its work as weather sirens blared during a tornado watch in downtown Jackson. Some employees took shelter in the Capitol basement.
Rander P. Adams said his and his wife, Janice Delores Adams, were in their home near downtown Jackson when severe weather blew through during a tornado warning Wednesday afternoon. He said their lights flashed and they heard a loud whistling noise.
As his wife tried to open their front door, a large window exploded a few feet from her.
"The glass broke just as if someone threw a brick through it," he said. "I advised her then, Let's go to the back of the house.'" Adams said the storm toppled trees in a nearby park, and a large tree across the street from their house split in half. "We were blessed," he said.
"Instead of falling toward the house, it fell the other way."