MONROE COUNTY — A cigarette dangling from his lips, Gary Carr surveyed the devastation he called home.
His mobile home, where he and his family had slept the night before, was flattened. His yard looked like a battle zone. His shed, which sheltered his family”s few remaining possessions, was upside down.
Carr and his wife, Tiffany, were two of 11 people injured in Monroe County when an EF2 tornado touched down Monday at about midnight near Aberdeen.
A wall had collapsed on her, bruising her back and shoulder, while her husband had suffered a minor head injury.
The tornado destroyed eight mobile homes, including the Carrs”, and a house near the intersection of Ivy Drive and Old Highway 25 near Aberdeen.
As she huddled under a towel, Tiffany Carr said she was just thankful she, her husband, four children and grandchild were still alive.
But looking over the wreckage, she started crying.
“It”s rough,” she said. “It”s real rough.”
The Carrs, like many of the victims, had no home insurance. The storm left them with nothing.
In the wake of the severe storm, Gov. Haley Barbour declared a state of emergency Tuesday for Monroe, Attala, Leake, Oktibbeha, Smith, Warren and Yazoo counties.
In Monroe County, an elderly man was transported to Memphis for internal bleeding in his head. He was last listed in stable condition, said local Emergency Management Agency Director Robert “Bunky” Goza.
Goza said Mississippi Emergency Management Agency was at the disaster site, along with the American Red Cross in Columbus and members of nearby churches.
“Everybody”s pulling together in the community,” he said.
Monroe County Sheriff Andy Hood said work crews would also help clear rubble.
The tornado and straight-line winds of about 90 mph wreaked havoc in the half-a-square-mile area, tossing trampolines into treetops and knocking down trees and powerlines.
In its latest damage update Tuesday, Mississippi MEMA said that, besides the destroyed homes, four houses and five mobile homes received major damage. Nine houses and 14 mobile homes received minor damage.
As of Tuesday, 32 people had been reported injured in the storm: 15 in Oktibbeha County, 11 in Monroe County and six in Attala County.
The mobile home of Susan Stoddard and her husband was knocked off its foundation and flipped more than four times before landing about 100 feet away.
“I”m shocked to look at it and still be living,” she said. “I”m used to seeing this on TV or somewhere else. I never thought that it would be me.”
She, her husband and her two children were uninjured and have family to stay with, Stoddard said.
Just down the road from the Stoddards is what”s left of the mobile home of Robert Zimmerman, who was in the house with his wife and two young daughters when the tornado hit.
He said his roof was there one minute and gone the next, flying back into the trees between his home and the Stoddards”.
“Right now, we”re just trying to salvage what we can and go from there,” Zimmerman said.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.