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CORINTH, Miss. — A state of emergency was declared Monday in Corinth, Mississippi after a powerful storm pounded the area, leaving downed trees and damaged structures Saturday.

The city’s mayor issued a proclamation for a State of Emergency to qualify for federal and state funding. Alcorn County did the same.

At the height of the storm, 11,000 customers in Alcorn County were without power. That number was down to 1,800 by Monday.

Many trees ares down. Power has been restored to schools but some roads are impassable. Schools in Corinth will reopen Tuesday.

“This has been a devastating ordeal for the city of Corinth,” Public Works Director Clayton Mills said. “It’s been a long time since we had a situation like this.”

Some streets are still blocked out near downtown Corinth. Emergency crews asking people to stay put because power lines could still be live. (Jonee Lewis, WREG)

The damage is widespread, with trees scattered everywhere, power lines down and roads closed.

Corinth city leaders believe straight line winds from a storm Saturday caused most of this damage.

Monday, everyone was thankful no one was seriously hurt.

“You can just look around here and see the potential for loss of life and injury was great,” said Danny Lowery, who was helping his daughter and her neighbors with cleanup. “We’re just thankful we didn’t have any.”

Although his daughter is without power and likely won’t have it restored this week, the family is focusing on the positive.

“We’re thankful that we can replace material things and cleanup but it would be hard to replace someone that we lost,” Lowery said.

It’ll be a long cleanup process. City leaders issued a warning.

{**mike hopkins/mayor pro tem**}

“People out riding around sightseeing, we would like to ask the public to be more careful, because they could run over or step on a live wire and that would be bad,” Mayor Pro-Tem Mike Hopkins said.

Instead, he encouraged everyone to be patient and continue to work together to rebuild and recover.

“We’ve got a long road ahead of us. It’s going to take a few months to get this kind of damage cleaned up,” he said.

 

In the midst of all the damage in Corinth, Mississippi, this American flag managed to remain, even though part of the pole broke. (Jonee Lewis, WREG)