One Fatality Confirmed in Columbus, Mississippi Tornado Feb 24, 2019

A tornado in Columbus, Mississippi killed one person on Saturday afternoon and left much of the city cleaning up from widespread damage.

A trail of destruction was left in the tornado’s wake, with WeatherNation meteorologist and field reporter Logan Poole reporting significant damage in the city from the tornado. In addition to the fatality, “multiple injuries” were also reported by Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant.

The National Weather Service office in Jackson, Mississippi is surveying the damage to rate the tornado’s strength.

Located near the eastern border of Mississippi northeast of the Tombigbee River, the city of 24,000 people was under a tornado warning at 4:56 p.m. Central Time. That’s when the tornado alert was issued to folks in the area. The tornado hit Columbus around 5:17 p.m. Central, roughly 20 minutes following the warning.

The storm then produced a tornado on the other side of the state border, over into Lamar County, Alabama around 5:54 p.m. Central.

The storm was tornado-warned for about 90 minutes, between roughly 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., before finally weakening in west-central Alabama Saturday evening.

The tornado was part of a much larger weather system that will quickly exit the Lower 48 on Sunday. A few more severe thunderstorms are possible along the southeastern side, while blizzard conditions will push into Sunday for the northern U.S. Lastly, this wide-reaching storm will bring damaging wind gusts to much of the Midwest and Northeast on Sunday.

Keep checking back of more updates on the flooding threat with WeatherNation on-air and online.

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