Thunderstorm Wind in Rankin County, Mississippi

Significant and extensive straight line wind damage occurred across portions of west central and central Rankin County as a line of intense storms move through the Metro area. An extensive swath of wind damage occurred on the southern side of the Metro tornado. Wind gusts ranged between 80 and 100 mph which caused hundreds of trees to get knocked down along with numerous power lines and several billboard and road signs. Many trees fell on homes as well as vehicles. The hardest hit areas were across portions of Flowood, generally from the Dogwood Festival Mall, Old Fannin Road and along Highway 25 to Grants Ferry Road.

A potent early April storm slammed the area with widespread wind damage and several tornadoes. A bowing line of thunderstorms was the culprit with the main axis of severe weather and damage having occurred within the I-20 corridor from northeast Louisiana to the Jackson Metro to east-central Mississippi around Meridian. Several extensive swaths of significant wind damage occurred, where winds were estimated at 80 mph or greater. Overall, several thousand trees were snapped and uprooted with several dozen homes damaged by downed trees. The strongest tornado occurred in the Jackson Metro area as it moved across Northeast Jackson and into the Reservoir area of Northwest Rankin County. Additionally, the significant wind damage was focused across portions of Vicksburg, Bolton, Jackson, the Reservoir area of Rankin County, the Hillsboro area in Scott County, northern Newton County and the northern half of Lauderdale County. Aside from the tornadoes, this was one of the most significant wind events to impact the Jackson Metro area as well as the City of Vicksburg. Nearly everyone described this event as being worse than Hurricane Katrina for central Mississippi.