SUMNER — Forty-four train cars were derailed and an airplane was hurled like a toy when a storm, perhaps a tornado, roared through here early Saturday.
Thirty area homes were damaged, most of them in or very near the town of Sumner, according to initial assessments.
Countless trees were uprooted or broken, with several falling on houses and automobiles; utility poles were snapped like toothpicks, leaving electric transmission lines dangling or on the ground; and there were widespread power outages that, in some cases, lasted for more than three days.
R.H. Bearden Elementary School lost large sections of its metal roof to the storm. On parts of the school, the metal was simply peeled back, while on others it was ripped off in sheets, some landing in the school’s parking lot.
Outlying areas of Sumner, including the Brazil community to the east, also were hit hard. Farm shops and tractor sheds were demolished, grain bins buckled, pivot irrigation systems were overturned and almost anything loose got tossed about.
To the west, U.S. Highway 49 was rendered a one-lane road due to leaning or broken utility poles and low-hanging power lines that effectively blocked the southbound lane.
To the north, between Sumner and Tutwiler, a parked shortline railroad train proved no match for the storm.
Sumner Mayor Jackson Webb said railroad officials told him that a total of 44 stationary freight cars were derailed — 36 in one cluster and eight in another.
“Some of them blew completely off the track,” noted Tallahatchie County Emergency Management Director Thad Roberts. “Some of them, the wheels were still on the track; it just flipped the grain cars off and laid them on their side.”
The grain cars and tankers were empty, Roberts added.
Despite the damage, there were no reports of injuries in Tallahatchie County.
The National Weather Service (NWS) will make the final, official determination, but Roberts believes a twister was responsible for the carnage.
“Right now, I’m inclined to believe it was a tornado, probably EF1 or EF2,” he said Sunday. An EF1 packs winds of from 86 to 110 mph, and an EF2, from 111 to 135 mph.
One clue, Roberts explained, lies in the manner in which downed trees came to rest in a wooded area off Highway 49 East between Sumner and Tutwiler.
“There’s trees laying every which way over in those woods. That’s a definite sign of a tornado,” he said. “Straight-line winds are going to put all of your trees in the same direction. Even here in Sumner, I can see signs of trees laying in different directions, so I’m saying it was a tornado. But that’s just my opinion.”
An official with the NWS in Memphis told The Sun-Sentinel Thursday that they would be sending someone Friday to survey damage in the Sumner area and then make an official determination about the cause.
Whatever it was, everyone is thankful that it was not even more destructive.
The storm arrived with a fury shortly after 4 a.m.
“We got no alert, no warning,” said Webb. “We didn’t get anything.”
Webb noted that he was awakened by the sound of the wind howling. After that, the storm “just exploded,” he recalled.
The Sumner Fire Department, of which Webb is chief, sprang into action about 4:30.
“We had at least a dozen power poles and power lines down all over town,” Webb said. “A lot of the poles, we had to just cut to make the roads passable.”
The job of clearing the streets was not a quick one.
“Every street in town was blocked except for North Cassidy and North Walnut,” the mayor noted. “They were the only two roads not blocked by trees, power poles or other debris.”
In the wake of the storm, Webb applauded the efforts of town workers, community volunteers and the Tallahatchie County Sheriff’s Office, particularly commending members of the fire department who labored long and hard all day.
“I’m thankful for all those guys,” the mayor said.
Mayor Tracy Mims in Webb reported only a few limbs down in his municipality. “It missed us,” he said, while noting that the town was without electrical service for a period of time.
Mayor Nichole Harris-Rosebud of Tutwiler said her town likewise dodged a bullet, with only one tree falling near a convenience store and townspeople having to endure an extended power outage.
Eastern Tallahatchie County received little damage, with only a couple of downed trees reported.
Roberts said his office operated generators to keep water flowing in the towns. The lone exception was West Tallahatchie Utilities Association, where there was a generator problem, the system lost pressure and a voluntary boil-water alert had to be issued.
Fifty tarps and one pallet of water were distributed by local emergency management officials.
The West Tallahatchie School District dismissed classes Monday and Tuesday due to power outages, and parts of Sumner and Tutwiler still had no electricity as late as Tuesday afternoon.
Despite the damage and inconveniences, Mayor Webb said local residents were blessed.
“Everything we’ve had could be cured with a chain saw or insurance,” he noted. “I just thank God nobody’s hurt and everybody’s safe.”
Residents are asked to report any damage to homes or businesses to the Tallahatchie County Emergency Management Agency office in Charleston at 662-647-2540.
