Low EF-1 Tornado touched down in Purvis

Purvis, Miss. - Many people experienced heavy rain and wind gusts early Thursday morning, but some people in Lamar County experienced much more.

James Smith, Lamar County Emergency Management Agency director said, "We saw indications of rotation when we was out doing damage assessment yesterday. So we went ahead and notified National Weather Service and they did declare it as an EF-1, low-end EF-1 tornado. It started just south of Purvis, southeast of Purvis actually on Tallawalla Road, and it crossed over Martin Luther King, and then hit the Upper Elementary School. It had some roof damage there to one of the buildings and then went across Mitchell Avenue and basically ended at that area."

Smith said the tornado traveled just over a mile long.