Feb 5, 2008 11:25 pm US/Eastern
Ark., Tenn., Miss. Hit By Tornados Tuesday Night
Fatalities Have Been Reported
ATKINS, Ark. (CBS4) ―
The Hickory Ridge Mall in Southeast Memphis, Tennessee is one of the many locations that sustained severe damage because of evening Tornadoes and storms in that area on Tuesday.
CBS Affiliate WREG is reported that some strong storm cells hit the area Tuesday afternoon causing severe damage.
Tornadoes tore across Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring several others in a rare midwinter outbreak of violent weather.
A couple and a child were killed in Atkins, the Pope County Sheriff's Office said.
Emergency crews went door to door seeking possible victims, authorities said. Power lines blocked traffic to the community of 3,000 along the Arkansas River in the central part of the state.
At least six tornadoes touched down between Oxford, Miss., and Jackson, Tenn., said Richard Okulski of the National Weather Service in Memphis.
One storm tore a large part of the north wall off Hickory Ridge Mall in Memphis. Steve Cole of the Memphis Police Department said a few people north of the mall took shelter under a bridge and were washed away, but were pulled out of the Wolf River with only scrapes.
Later, the same system damaged a dormitory at Union University in Jackson. Eight students were trapped but weren't seriously injured, school spokesman Tim Ellsworth said.
Twisters in northern Mississippi tore through buildings and ripped down power lines. The National Weather Service said it had received reports of injuries in the area, but the extent of those injuries was not immediately available.
A tornado shredded warehouses in an industrial park in Southaven, said Desoto County Sheriff's Department Cmdr. Steve Atkinson.
"It ripped the warehouses apart. The best way to describe it is it looks like a bomb went off," Atkinson said. "A lot of fire departments are here and we're searching each warehouse to see if there was anybody in there. It's going to be a time consuming thing and we'll probably be searching into the morning."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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