Feb. 16—RIPLEY — A suspected tornado touched down in Ripley amid a series of storms that rolled across Northeast Mississippi on Thursday afternoon, damaging buildings and knocking down trees as it swept through Tippah County.
As of 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, local emergency officials said no one had reported any injuries because of the storm, but multiple properties throughout the area were damaged, some significantly.
The most dramatic damage seemingly came at the expense of the 76 gas station on City Ave N., just north of downtown Ripley. Strong winds tore all the gas pumps from their places in front of the store.
"I was just fixing a lunch plate for a customer," 76 owner Dave Patel said. "A fraction of a second later, (the front door) was wide open. I didn't understand what happened for a few seconds and then we all ran to the coolers. I was super scared at that time."
A storage shed on the gas station property was reduced to a pile of debris in the parking lot, and both the store's front and back doors were blown from their hinges, causing inventory to be scattered across the floor.
"I came out and saw my whole shed was blown away," Patel said. "I couldn't understand because it took only a few seconds. I was shocked at what happened, but at least everyone was safe."
Just down the street, powerful, potentially tornadic wind bent the sign for the Ripley Dollar General into a "u" shape. In other nearby areas, trees fell onto property causing minor damage. Some cars in the area sustained broken windows from debris.
"I haven't seen anything like this in a long time," Ripley Mayor Jon Grisham said. "Especially since I've been in city government. To my recollection, we haven't had any damage like we've had today."
According to Grisham, fallen trees rendered Mockingbird Lane in Ripley impassable. Crews were working late Thursday afternoon to clear the road and cut trees, once the power had been shut off in the area.
Additionally, Tippah Electric Power Association General Manager Tim Smith said over 2,700 customers were without power at the peak of the outages.
"We're just glad there are no injuries or fatalities that we know of," Grisham said. "We're blessed that everyone is safe."