We Got A Tornado For Christmas.

[charlie sherrill]

The title pretty much says it all. It happened a little after 4:00 P.M. I had smoked a ham and a turkey and my daughter made the trimmings. We enjoyed a nice Christmas dinner and a shooting outing on the back deck with my granddaughters' new .22 rifles that Paw Paw and Uncle Robert got them for Christmas. The weather turned bad as my daughter and her family left to go do it again at her in-laws' house.

Right after they left my pager started going off non-stop with warnings. I turned on my portable radio just in time to hear dispatch sending officers to the Maxie community about eight miles from my house. A tornado had reportedly touched down. I gathered my gear and as I was headed to my cruiser my power went out at my house. I could hear other off duty officers going "10-8" as I left home. En route I learned that a tornado had crossed U.S. Highway 49 and that the highway was blocked going both ways. We sent officers to assist the Highway Patrol and other officers to assist the local ambulance company. This area is heavily wooded and has very few homes. The tornado managed to find four of them that were clustered together and the ambulance crew couldn't reach them because of the downed trees and power lines.

It takes a while to get a county crew together to clear roads, especially on a holiday. It didn't take long for the locals to come out with tractors and chainsaws though. After about 45 minutes the volunteers were able to clear a path to the destroyed homes. These folks were lucky. There were quite a few people in the houses but only two were injured, one with a broken leg. I stayed out for about three hours, long enough to open some roads up and to check other houses for damage or injuries and to let things calm down some.

I had visions of Christmas leftovers and mixing one of my new presents, but when I got home the power was still out. One of my stocking presents was one of those little lights that clips to the visor of a cap. I had just finished reading an article in Shotgun News using the light when the power came back on. We got the weather channel back on and learned that Jim Cantore had just left Hattiesburg headed to Mobile, Ala. Bama folks beware. Apparently this guy causes trouble wherever he goes. Now, back to the leftovers.

[rags]

I sure hope all are ok.

[bamabiker]

Charlie I hope everyone is OK. Tornados are not fun. I find out that last Jan.

[DeathGrip]

I'm looking at that storm on radar now and it looks like a hurricane.

Hang in there.

[pawncop]

A prayer for all in the area.

[max]

As long as no one got hurt, you get all the good stuff.

[Cobroller]

Duck and Dodge Charlie. Merry Christmas.

[rags]

All we're getting is a Blizzard out of that storm tomorrow. It was news to me!

[jlrhiner]

Hope everyone stays safe. They were telling us to be prepared for up to 8" of snow, but it started going south.

[CAJUNLAWYER]

we had some wicked straight line winds late this aftenoon-but I figured that y'all would probably get the brunt and unfortunately I was correct. Next time Jim Cantore shows up you ought to arrest him and charge him with something.

[GaryS]

My son says that a tornado hit Mobile and damaged a tree and a high school. A lot of old Oak trees also were destroyed.

He's across the bay in Baldwin County and didn't say anything about damage there.

He's too busy asking me about guns and accessories.

[les strat]

I watched the tornado go through downtown Mobile from a live tower cam. That's some scary stuff.

I think the south has had their fair share of twisters. Send them to DC.

[chud333]

Like Rags has said, we are also now under a Blizzard warning
here. 10 plus inches of snow and 40 mph winds. Don't look good.
Glad nobody was killed there Charlie.

Chuck

[Lee Barner]

charlie, glad you're okay and thanks for your service to your community. it's all Al Gore's fault. lee

[JJEH]

Hope everyone is okay...

[scooter123]

Originally Posted by charlie sherrill

We got the weather channel back on and learned that Jim Cantore had just left Hattiesburg headed to Mobile, Ala. Bama folks beware. Apparently this guy causes trouble wherever he goes. Now, back to the leftovers.

Good on you for issuing that warning about Jim Cantore. It seems that guy has a black cloud following him around or somethin, every where he goes the weather turns just horrible with tornado's, hurricanes, and the like breaking out. You'd think the Weather Channel would just start issuing Jim Cantore warnings, might save more lives.

[REM 3200]

Glad you're keeping those things north of the coast.

Also thanks for your service to the folks that got hit.

[pharmer]

We're getting the tail end of it right now. It's so dark I need to put lights on in the house at the middle of the day. Joe

[kennyb]

the hattiesburg,ms.area is very fortunate to have LEO's like charlie...and brett favre lives there to!!