MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) –
“Look at it. Don’t you see it? You don’t see that big tornado? The big V in the middle of the sky. That’s a tornado.”
A low passing north of the Mid-South on April 2, 2006 brought a warm and humid day that saw a high of 80 degrees in Dyersburg, Tennessee before a cold front brought deadly storms that evening.
The first deadly tornado in the Mid-South that evening touched down around 4:46pm in Randolph County, Arkansas, resulting in over 175 injuries as it ripped through Greene, Dunklin, and Pemiscot Counties. 2 people died, one in Braggadocio and the other in Caruthersville before the tornado lifted before 6:30pm.
“It looked just like a black cloud coming out there and it’s like WHOOOOOOO look at it. I said get out of my way. And by the time I got to the back to where I was going, the top of the house falled on me.”
“We now have golf ball sized hail coming back right down above me”
Minutes later, a second tornado touched down from the same supercell in Dyer County. This quickly strengthened into an F 3 monster with winds over 160 mph. 16 died with 70 injuries north of Dyersburg, with the town of Newbern hit especially hard.
“My fire department pager went off and we ran and got in the hallway and got set down and then that’s when it hit. That’s how much warning we had.”
This tornado lifted just before 7pm before that same supercell once again dropped another F-3 tornado, this time in Gibson county, with 6 deaths and 42 injuries as the violent twister ripped through the Bradford neighborhood.
“Life is for the living. And we grieve, but I just thank the Lord that He did watch over as many people as He did.”
Just 10 minutes after that tornado lifted, a second F-3 tornado touched down in Gibson County, this time just south of the border with Obion County. While the tornado was only on the ground for 9 minutes, it was still able to kill 2 and injure 6 others as it brought over 15 million dollars in damage to the Rutherford neighborhood.
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