At about 4:47 p.m. Saturday, Brooklyn Porter could see a funnel cloud beyond the distant tree line in an open farm field across the road from her property.
Moments earlier, an emergency weather alert tone and message on her cellphone had warned of impending danger. The area was already under a tornado watch, but this was different.
“It said tornado warning, not watch, and I looked out the window and saw the tornado across the field,” she said Sunday. “I was like, all right, get the dogs and let’s go.”
Brooklyn and boyfriend Chris scrambled to get themselves and Brooklyn’s two Labrador retrievers into an automobile outside the single-wide mobile home at 4067 Forty Mile Bend Road, southwest of Philipp.
With only minutes to spare, they drove to the nearby home of Brooklyn’s parents, Tansil and Kelly Porter, about one mile or so up the road.
There, the couple rounded up her parents’ three dogs before getting themselves and all five canines into an in-ground storm shelter.
Before leaving her home, Brooklyn had hastily called Kelly, who said she and Tansil were just leaving Grenada after a shopping trip there.
Brooklyn told her mom about the approaching tornado and remained on the phone with her from then until after they entered the storm shelter and the tornado had passed.
“I ended up losing service, and that was the end of the call,” Brooklyn noted.
Kelly, pausing to wipe a tear, recalled that it was “really scary” to be on the phone with Brooklyn, “knowing I wasn’t able to be with her. A lot of emotions.”
On their way home from Grenada, Kelly said they met the same tornado at Oxberry, near the intersection of highways 8 and 35.
“We actually met the storm chasers, and that’s when I knew it was bad,” she added.
After 20 minutes or so, Brooklyn, Chris and the dogs emerged from the shelter. A short time later, Kelly and Tansil arrived at the home, which had sustained no damage.
After hugs, tears and other expressions of relief, the eyes of the family members became fixed on what Brooklyn said was “another tornado trying to touch down.”
It was as they were looking toward the south shortly after 5 p.m. that they saw the roof from Brooklyn’s mobile home laying on the ground in the distance.
The trailer house had been destroyed and reduced to rubble. All that was left standing was a part of the front porch deck, posts, steps and ramp.
This photo shows the blocks on which the single-wide mobile home of Brooklyn Porter once stood,with part of the porch and steps still standing alongside. (National Weather Service/Jackson photo)
At the site Sunday, Brooklyn said she had been able to recover just a few belongings.
“I got clothes, a couple of pictures, and that’s about it, really, other than boots, a couple of dog kennels and my fire turnout.” (Brooklyn is a proud member of the Philipp Volunteer Fire Department.)
In the storm’s aftermath, she has mixed emotions.
“I feel hurt yet very blessed that me, my boyfriend and dogs were able to get out. I’m still here and I’m very grateful,” she said. “But it left me homeless, and it was sad to see my first house go down.”
She had been living in the home about five months.
Kelly, saying the house can be replaced, was more concerned about the lives that escaped near tragedy.
Expressed Kelly, “We are just very blessed that all of them are safe.”
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Tallahatchie County Emergency Management Agency Director Thad Roberts said Tuesday that his office received no reports of injuries from Saturday’s severe weather, which saw multiple tornado warnings issued for the county within a few hours. Some even overlapped.
Roberts said the Porter home was the only one in the county destroyed. A few other structures had minor damage.
“A tree laid over on the roof of one house at Cascilla, but it didn’t damage the roof. They just cut the tree off,” he noted. “Another house had a porch on the back of it that was kind of messed up.”
Many trees were down in the area of Paul-Shady Grove Road, Roberts said, stating that fallen trees or tree limbs pulled electrical boxes off the exterior of several homes.
“Trees tore electrical lines down and power company people were out working on it Sunday,” he added. “But it was right in that one spot that had the most trees down.”
Roberts noted, “It had to be a good tornado to do what it did right there,” surmising “it had to be 80 mph, just guessing, because it twisted them down in that area.”
An EF-1 tornado packs wind speeds of 73 to 112 mph.
The National Weather Service in Jackson on Tuesday released its preliminary damage survey results for what was called the "Schlater/Tallahatchie tornado," saying the twister was, indeed, an EF-1, packing estimated peak winds of 110 mph. NWS said the tornado began near U.S. 49 East north of Schlater, then crossed the Tallahatchie River in the Sunnyside community into southern Tallahatchie County.
The NWS survey estimated the twister lasted from 4:47 p.m. until 5:19 p.m., traveled 21.87 miles and had a maximum width of 650 yards.
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During the course of Saturday afternoon and evening, Roberts said all 19 of the county’s strategically located tornado sirens were activated and functioned properly.
“They all worked all over the county, every one of them,” he noted.
Many people seemed to heed the warnings.
Storm shelters around the county, as well as the Tallahatchie County Safe Room in Charleston, were very busy, Roberts said.
“I think the storm shelters and Safe Room were used more than ever before,” he stated. “We had about 150 people in the Safe Room Saturday and about 60 the night before. The shelters, according to everybody I’ve heard from, were full.”
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The area received heavy rains that dumped 3-5 inches of the wet stuff on Tallahatchie County.
There was some minor flooding, especially along the Tallahatchie River at Locopolis and Swan Lake, and portions of several roads were closed for a time, including South Creek Road near Charleston and Black Bayou Road near Glendora.
“Some of the farmers had corn planted and it was under water, which is not good,” said Roberts. “They’ve got to go back and replant it.”
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After four consecutive days of tornado watches last week that included Tallahatchie County, and several tornado warnings on Saturday, Roberts said, “We were very blessed to not have anyone injured and no more property damage than we did have.”
As of Wednesday, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency reported that 22 counties had submitted official damage reports due to severe weather that impacted the state from April 2-6.
MEMA said it had received reports of damage to 414 homes, 14 businesses and 20 farms statewide. Of the homes affected, 54 were destroyed while 68 sustained major damage.
One death and seven injuries were reported around the Magnolia State. The death was in Jasper County, and injuries occurred in Marshall (1), Pontotoc (1), Tate (2) and Tippah (3) counties.
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Roberts said he and other officials with the Tallahatchie County Emergency Management Agency were out Sunday and Monday surveying the hardest hit areas and speaking with homeowners and others in an effort to determine whether they sustained any unreported damage.
While some residents with damages have reported it to the EMA office in Charleston, Roberts said there might be others who have not yet done so.
To report any damages from the recent storms, Tallahatchie County residents may call the local EMA at 662-647-2540.
