Tornado causes damage near Poplarville
Published 7:00 am Thursday, August 31, 2017
A tree sitting in front of the Ladner’s house was split in half after a tornado passed through their property Wednesday. Photo by Taylor Welsh
Another look at the tin roof in the tree. Photo by Taylor Welsh
A piece of the tin roof from the dairy barn is stuck high in a tree on the Ladner's property. Photo by Taylor Welsh
The old and unused dairy farm tin roof was completely ripped off. Photo by Taylor Welsh
The Ladner's hay barn was demolished during the tornado. Photo by Taylor Welsh
A two-inch thick branch defies physics as it appears wedged in between the brick wall and a window sill of the home, leaving the glass untouched. Photo by Taylor Welsh
A tornado touched down near Poplarville Wednesday morning, destroying a resident’s property before dissipating seconds later. No injuries were reported.
At about 10 a.m., Poplarville resident Clara Ladner was sewing at a window when things began to shake.
“It was just like any other rain storm at the beginning, so I didn’t think anything of it. But then, it came out of nowhere,” Ladner said.
She said she heard a roaring sound, similar to a freight train, right in front of her home.
“The whole house began to shake viciously and I had a slight idea of what was going on,” Ladner said.
She said she has been through Hurricanes Camille and Katrina while living at that same address, but this time, things were much different.
“I thought this was the time that the house didn’t make it,” she said.
Her husband, Emerson Ladner, said he was sitting by the window when the tornado passed through his property. At that time he watched sheets of tin roofing fly by the window and saw the trees twist and crack in the front yard. Minutes after the tornado started, the winds began to calm. Once it passed, the family was able to collect themselves and assess the damage caused to their house and other structures on the property.
While the main home only had minor roof damage and a couple of broken windows, their hay barn was demolished and the tin roof of their older dairy barn was damaged. Trees on the property and down the street were split in half. A two-inch thick branch wedged itself in between the brick wall and a window frame of the home without breaking the glass, the same window Clara Ladner said she was sitting at when the storm hit.
“If the branch struck the home less than an inch more to the right, it could have flown through the glass and hit me,” Clara Ladner said. “The important thing is that no one was harmed.”
Pearl River County Emergency Management Director Danny Manley said the tornado had a direct correlation with Hurricane Harvey, but now that more favorable weather conditions are forecast to head in from the west, the storms in Pearl River County should get weaker.
“With the drier weather coming in, I would suspect that we only see spotty showers at best,” Manley said.
