By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Our area experienced widespread damage from a severe storm that blew through this afternoon.
In Union City, the roof of the Century 21 building blew off and crashed into the Union City Post Office building across the street. Large sections of the roof were all over the post office grounds and downtown streets.
The area was blocked off while city workers worked to remove all the debris from the scene. Police Chief Perry Barfield said he received the call of the damage to the post office at 2:45 p.m.
Obion County EMA Director Danny Jowers said damage in the county is widespread with trees falling on homes in several areas. No one has been reported injured.
The Institutional Caseworks building in Union City also was damaged.
Henry County damage was widespread, with huge trees uprooted and blocking roadways. At the height of the storm, Paris Board of Public Utilities reported outages to 7,500 households and was working to restore power.
No injuries were reported in Henry County, either, and County EMA Director Ron Watkins said four to five houses were damaged by trees smashing into them, 40-50 trees uprooted or fallen, numerous utility poles are down all over the county.
He said MidSouth Credit Bureau near Premier Nissan was damaged, with half of the roof blown off, two doors blown out and furniture from inside the business blown outside.
Volunteer fire departments and rescue squad members are working to clear the roadways and help residents, Watkins said.
Sirens at the KOA Campgrounds and at Cottage Grove were activated warning of the coming storm. Watkins estimated winds were 70 mph.
Gibson County Electric Membership Corporation reported, “This afternoon’s strong storms have caused widespread outages.” At the storm’s height, there were 11,410 outages with multiple broken poles and lines down.
As of 5 p.m., “We currently have 101 outage locations and 8,381 consumer-members’ homes and businesses without power.” They said it will be a prolonged outage for customers.
Weakley County EMA was out for damage assessment and the highway department was out clearing roadways, and the electric company is out fixing the power. “It will be a long night,” Weakley Co. EMA officials said.
Benton County officials reported, “We have widespread outages including parts of Camden and Big Sandy, Holladay, and Birdsong Rd /New Johnsonville River Area. We are currently assessing damage and have multiple trees down, and roads blocked. We appreciate your patience as we work to restore power after this quick powerful storm moving event. This is going to be an extended outage event. All our crews our dispatching.”
Damage was reported in Dyersburg on Parr Ave, behind the new Hobby Lobby, and near the Nissan car dealershp with multiple power lines down.
Top photo: Damage at Union City Post Office. Photo by Amy Keathley.
Institutional Caseworks in Union City. Amy Keathley photo
Weakley Co. EMA photo
City of Dyersburg photo