Flooding in Mississippi Forces Hundreds to Flee

A fierce storm system pounded the Southeast with torrential rain and wind gusts of nearly 60 m.p.h. on Wednesday, ripping roofs from buildings and forcing people to flee their homes in Mississippi because of floodwaters six feet deep.

“It was a nightmare. It is still a nightmare,” said Lebron Simmons, 28, of Vicksburg, Miss., where more than six inches of rain fell in a seven-hour period, flooding homes and apartments in the Hamilton Heights subdivision.

About 250 people were forced to flee their homes, although the floodwaters began to recede later in the day.

Monumental Job

“Now we have the monumental job of cleaning up,” Police Chief Herman Redick said.

Simmons, who awoke late Tuesday night to find his first-floor apartment flooded under three feet of water, was rescued by boat and taken to a nearby motel.

“I opened the window and was fixing to jump, but some men said ‘Don’t jump. We are coming to get you,’ ” he said. “I lost everything that was on the first floor. And I lost my car because it is still sitting on the driveway.”

The storm Wednesday spread heavy rain from the central and northern Plains, through the Mississippi and Tennessee valleys to the eastern Gulf Coast, Georgia and northern Florida.

Roofs Ripped From Homes

Lightning set trees on fire and the powerful winds ripped off roofs in southern Kentucky near the Tennessee border.

“It was rough,” said Roy Rippy, a school bus mechanic in Franklin, Ky., located between Bowling Green and Nashville. “It’s downed several trees and took roofs off several buildings and things like that. You could hardly walk.”

Power was knocked out to about 1,000 customers around Nashville and in Columbia, Tenn., and to nearly half of the homes in Franklin, Ky., a farming community of about 7,700 people.

Winds were clocked at 59 m.p.h. near Slidell, Miss., 58 m.p.h. at Muscle Shoals, Ala., and 52 m.p.h. at Pensacola, Fla.

Nine inches of fresh snow was reported on the ground Wednesday in Valentine in western Nebraska. In the eastern part of the state, the National Weather Service said persistent rain had caused lowland flooding.