OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - A tornado touched down outside of Oxford last night (Tuesday) causing major damage to three industries in the Lafayette County Industrial Park and undetermined damage to homes.
Officials say 11 people were injured, none seriously.
Deadly tornadoes tore across four states yesterday. At least 44 people were reported dead throughout the South. The victims included 24 people in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, and seven in Kentucky.
The storm caused severe damage to the Caterpillar plant in Oxford.
Lafayette County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Jimmy Allgood says several homes were reported as destroyed or seriously damaged off a rural road east of Abbeville. Initial damage reports from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency showed some damage in Alcorn, Bolivar, DeSoto and Lafayette counties.
Desoto County Sheriff's Department Commander Steve Atkinson says a twister shredded warehouses in an industrial park in the city of Southaven. No injuries were reported.
In Southaven, some buildings suffered damage. No injuries were reported.
Elsewhere in North Mississippi, a tornado was reported on the ground in Tate County, a spokesman for the Tate County Sheriff's Department said, but there were no reported injuries and no buildings had received heavy damage.
What officials called an unconfirmed tornado in Bolivar County ripped the roof off a mobile home and blew over a gas pump.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
