Slabbed

SLABBED sadly interrupts the Editilla’s “interruption of  the interruption of regularly scheduled disaster blogging” to report At Least 3 Dead In Severe Weather In Mississippi

Possible tornados have killed three people in Northern Mississippi…Benton County Coroner John Riles identified the victims as 25-year-old Latoya Long and 26-year-old Thomas Catrell Cowan. He said the two lived in a mobile home that “looks like you stuck about four sticks of dynamite on it and it just disappeared.“  Riles said several other people reported injuries after the storm blew through about 2:30 a.m. Sunday…Lafayette County Emergency Management coordinator David Shaw confirmed a death in Abbeville. He said the victim’s house was blown apart. Mississippi remains under a tornado watch through Sunday afternoon.

Returning to the unscheduled interruption of the Ladder’s “regularly scheduled disaster blogging” and the Editilla’s report – the Levees have failed above Memphis:

The Tennessee town of Millington, population 10,433, is quickly becoming an island.  Emergency officials say water is “compartmentalizing”, closing in on all sides of the city after several levee breaks on Saturday, May 1, 2010.

As the water continues to rise, and hundreds are forced out of their flooded homes, a dusk-to-dawn curfew has been put into effect.

Shelby County Emergency Management Director Bob Nations tells myEyewitnessNews.com that city and county leaders are focusing their efforts in Millington.  He describes the situation as “precarious”.

There were 146 citizens rescued from the Navy base.  One homeowner tells us they were evacuated moments before the levee broke and that everything they own, including  both cars, was destroyed by the flood waters.

“So far, no injuries or fatalities have been reported in Millington”; however, there are reports of Major Damage After Memphis Homes And Businesses Flood and officials are now reporting  5 8 Killed In Heavy Flooding Across Tennessee

Tennessee officials have upgraded the number of dead to eight due to a tornado, severe weather and flooding across the middle and western parts of the state.  News reports from around Tennessee on Sunday say at least one of the victims was killed by a tornado in the Pocahantas Community in Hardeman County and two others drowned when they were swept away by flood waters in Stewart County. Another fatality was reported in McNairy County.

Heavy rain continued to pummel the state as emergency personnel evacuated stranded residents, closed roads continued to hamper travel and hundreds of residents dealt with damage to their homes.

Officials are even “urging cancellation of…church services” – and that, folks, is a “major disaster declaration” in this part of the country!  Stay tuned.