MEMPHIS, Tenn. — DeSoto County leaders say more than fifty homes were damaged after tornadoes rolled through the Mid-South on Friday night.
Lee Caldwell, the DeSoto County District 4 Supervisor and VP, said two different tornadoes slammed into the area, tearing through homes and businesses.
“We had damage to over 50 homes and 12 of them are uninhabitable. Three businesses were hit,” Caldwell said.
The same area had just recovered from the ice storm.
“We had just cleaned up from the ice storm and the same area that was hit hard in the ice storm was hit again along the lakes area,” Caldwell said.
The community of Eudora was ground zero. Adam Butler remembers what the storm sounded and felt like.
“It just sounded like a bunch of wind rushing and you feel our house shaking. I put my hands up against the wall and it was just a bunch of shaking, but I believe it was mostly from so many trees falling simultaneously,” Butler recalled. “I tried to stay calm in those situations, but I was pretty terrified inside.”
Other neighbors such as Lanita Scott said they were prepared because they were watching our weather coverage.
“We knew there was really bad coming. We’d been watching the news since four o’clock, the continuous coverage of the weather,” Scott said.
Still, she admits being afraid.
“Extreme fear and awe at the same time because I’ve never seen one in person before. It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time,” Scott said.
Scott said what made things more terrifying for her was not hearing any warning sirens in the area where she lives.
“We didn’t hear sirens or anything like that, but we got the warning on our phones, and I think it was 7:40, we saw a funnel cloud coming over our neighbor’s house,” she said.
But DeSoto County leaders said they do have a warning system in place, their sirens sounded off, and more have been ordered to help keep everyone safe.
“The sirens you can hear from the outside. All of our sirens fired. All of them were active. We do have six additional sirens that we’ve gotten grants for and we’re fixing to install,” Caldwell said.
Supervisor Caldwell told WREG she and others in DeSoto County feel very blessed because they had no deaths and there were no injuries.