Rain, Hail, Wind Lash South; Electric Towers Toppled

Thunderstorms struck parts of the South on Thursday with at least two tornadoes, heavy rain, hail and 70-m.p.h. winds, toppling dozens of electrical towers in Louisiana and causing scattered damage and power outages elsewhere.

Thunderstorms that produced severe weather in Louisiana and Texas late Wednesday spread Thursday across parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi.

During a six-hour period, almost three inches of rain fell on Jackson, Miss., while hail the size of baseballs fell on the Monroe, La., area. Lexington Elementary School in Monroe sustained extensive damage from the hail.

The toppled transmission towers, which were 60 to 70 feet tall and reportedly built to withstand 100-m.p.h. winds, supported a 500,000-volt line on a 50-mile stretch between Tallulah, La., and Vicksburg, Miss., said Charles Thacker, a manager for Louisiana Power & Light. As many as 10,000 customers of the utility were temporarily without power, he said.

Mississippi authorities reported one small tornado that caused damage to trees, and a second twister that wrecked two mobile homes, but caused no injuries, in Pelahatchie.

In Vicksburg, a spokeswoman for the Warren County Sheriff’s Department said roofs had been ripped off houses and one woman was injured when a tree fell on her car.

Half an inch of rain fell in seven minutes at Vicksburg, the National Weather Service said.

At Newton, Miss., an airport employee reported that high wind had broken airplane tie-downs and overturned one small plane.

The weather service also reported wind damage in parts of Arkansas and Texas. Wind gusted to 72 m.p.h. at Graford, Tex., ripping off the roof of a nightclub, and a thunderstorm in Parkdale, Ark., caused extensive damage to a school gymnasium and destroyed a mobile home behind the school, the weather service said.

Flooding was reported in Parker and Young counties in Texas.

“Water is standing everywhere,” said Rosa Hughes, a Young County sheriff’s dispatcher. “The water is up in their yards. I don’t think it’s in their houses yet.”

Showers and thunderstorms also spread into central Alabama, western Tennessee and western Kentucky.