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Tornado strikes shopping area

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| Thursday, December 19, 2002 |

Associated Press

NEWTON, Miss. � A powerful tornado crashed through the east Mississippi town of Newton on Thursday, blowing out car windshields, toppling trees and battering stores filled with holiday shoppers.

At least 50 people were injured, two critically, said Amy Carruth, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. No deaths were reported. Parts of Newton � 60 miles east of Jackson � were without power and phone service throughout the night.

"It's kind of chaotic and it looks pretty bad," Carruth said. "We've had storms all day, and the wind over Newton happened to pick up at the right place at the right time to form the tornado. But it didn't go on a long path and was very confined. It hit the ground, then went back up into the sky and was gone."

Most of the residential areas in the old railroad town were spared, but the business district is in shambles. At the Wal-Mart and the La-Z-Boy furniture plant � Newton's largest employer � big plate glass windows were blown to bits.

Shopping carts at two grocery stores were flung from one end of the parking lot to the other, crashing into cars already pummeled by flying debris.

"Trees are across the roads, roofs are partially collapsed, power lines are down and everywhere there's debris," said resident Kim Beatty, who was downtown when the tornado hit. "It's a mess."

Beatty was attending a holiday lunch with about 75 Newton city employees when the restaurant lights began to flicker. Plates filled with barbecued chicken, potato salad and field peas were quickly forgotten as the sound of rain was replaced with an ominous rumble. "Someone looked outside the window and yelled, �Get down and cover your head.' That's how fast it happened," she said.

At Newton High School, Beatty's 16-year-old daughter Lauren was in the middle of an English exam when the rain began to blow sideways against the window. "We saw the tornado coming," she said. "It was like a big white swirling cloud. Leaves were blowing and trees were uprooted right outside. It seemed to come out of nowhere. We all ran out into the hallway for cover. We were scared."

The roar of the tornado died down after a minute, she said. "We waited for a few minutes, then the principal came down the hall and said it's safe to go back into class. Our teacher said �ya'll have got to calm down and take this test as best you can.' "

Beatty collected herself and managed to write three pages on Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" before class was dismissed.