
Photo Thomas Wells
By Dennis Seid and Danza Johnson
Daily Journal
An early morning tornado today that hit parts of Tupelo damaged several homes and businesses, including the Tupelo Furniture Market’s Mississippi Complex. No deaths or major injuries were reported.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is expected to declare a state of emergency for Lee County around noon today.
Building D of the Mississippi Complex appeared to have absorbed the brunt of the storm. The front of the building – connected to the rest of the facility but at a slant – was wrecked, with steel beams and cinder blocks were twisted and ripped from the foundation.
TFM owner V.M. Cleveland said when he heard the building had been hit by a tornado, he had no idea the damage was so extensive.
“I didn’t imagine this,” said Cleveland. “This D section of the building is probably totaled, but I don’t think the whole complex is. The good thing is that no one was hurt.”
The other four buildings of the complex suffered some roof damage, but Cleveland said that could be
fixed.
The NEW customer service center that supports DirecTV was not damaged, although power was out. The center, which closed for the day, directed its operations to other call centers.
“We’re blessed that nobody got hurt,” said Bill Cleveland, president of the market. “The damage is extensive, but we won’t know more until we can get in there.”
Also, early reports that the Tupelo Regional Airport were damaged proved incorrect. Some of the debris from the furniture market had scattered and lay on some of the border fence on the west side of the airport.
When the storm hit Building D, several men were in the building working. William Felks and Allan
Jackson said it lasted only a minute, but that was more than enough time to scare both men half to death.
Still shaking nearly an hour after he made his was through the damaged building, Felks said he just held on to his friend and waited the storm out.
“I saw it coming,” said Felks referring. “I saw it come over top of us. Me and Allan hit behind a door and I was holding on to his belt as tight as I could. Then in seconds it stopped. It took less than a minute to mess this whole building up. Man I was scared.”
Even though Lee County E 911 reported that tornado sirens went off at 7:50 a.m., it was nearly 20 minutes before the furniture market was hit. Felks and Jackson said they didn’t hear the warning.
“When they do those tests and sound the sirens off, we always hear them,” said an annoyed Jackson, “but the time we needed to hear them we didn’t. That makes me mad because if we didn’t see the tornado and take cover, we’d be in trouble.”
A firefighter on the scene said the noise of the storm may have drowned out the howl of the siren.
Mall to open later today
Businesses around the Mall at Barnes Crossing also were damaged.
Mall general manager Jeff Snyder said a tornado struck close to Sonic and the Wesson & Mothershed Eye Center. Tupelo Police Department personnel had blocked traffic around the area. The mall was open, but access was limited.
A few awnings over some of the main entrances at the mall sustained minor damage, and several trees were down.
A new 30-foot sign that was recently installed on the east side of the mall was leaning at a 20-degree angle.
“We were fortunate that the tornado skipped around us, and that we weren’t open yet,” Snyder said.
A few employees of some stores in the 800,000-square-foot mall were in the building, and they went to some interior hallways to find shelter.
“The back hallways have no windows, and it’s where they can go for safety,” Snyder said.
Had the mall been open to customers, Snyder said, mall procedure is to announce threatening weather and to advise them to find shelter.
“We don’t lock down the mall or anything, but if customers want to find shelter here, any mall employee can lead them to one of the protected hallways,” he said.
The mall will open at 2 p.m. since power is only at about 30 percent at the sprawling shopping center and traffic is still moving slowly.