By
The Associated Press
PONTOTOC, Miss. - A powerful storm system killed at least 10 people, injured dozens more and destroyed hundreds of homes in Mississippi, authorities said yesterday.
The dead, whose names were not released, included men, women and children, said Pontotoc County Sheriff Leo Mask.
Ricky Jaggers, Pontotoc County's emergency management director, said the death toll had risen to 10 from an earlier estimate of 7.
Emergency officials said they believe two tornados ripped through a densely populated part of this north Mississippi community Saturday night, blowing houses off their foundations. The National Weather Service could not immediately confirm that tornados had struck the area.
Former Pontotoc County Supervisor Keith Herring said the area "looks like an atomic bomb hit it."
The storm system that began churning its way across the Mississippi Delta and central portions of the state Saturday night left behind numerous downed power lines and damaged buildings.
About 10 to 12 houses in the Benoit area suffered wind damage and a few homes in Leflore County were hit hard by the storm.
Alan Gerard, a National Weather Service spokesman in Jackson, said there were reports that two subdivisions southeast of Greenwood were damaged.
The Bolivar County Courthouse also suffered damage when marble-sized hail broke four windows, authorities said.
"We've got cars run off the road in ditches," a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Department said. "We had 80 miles per hour winds."
The winds destroyed the Jordan Grove Missionary Baptist Church east of Benoit.
