Therese Apel and Clay Chandler

The Clarion-Ledger

A band of twisters and thunderstorms ravaged Mississippi Monday, killing at least six people, gutting homes and tearing down businesses in the north and central parts of the state in what state officials called the most active tornado day in Mississippi history.

Somewhere between six and a dozen tornadoes bludgeoned the state, moving Gov. Phil Bryant to declare a state of emergency in Mississippi Monday night.

There were 23 tornado warnings issued in the state early Monday evening.

Although National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Bryant said it will be impossible to confirm how many tornadoes touched down in the state until they are able to look at radar data and do surveys of the areas hit, some weather officials said the number could total a dozen.

Bryant said severe thunderstorms were expected into the night Monday and through today. He said officials don't expect the weather to be as severe as Monday's activity, which was only the trough leading in the cold front which will hit today.

"That will kick off more showers and thunderstorms, some could be severe," he said. "I think the most severe should be across the eastern portion of the state. There will still be a risk of tornadoes, not as high as today, and still a risk of hail and high winds."

Fifty National Guardsmen were deployed to Tupelo and 50 to Winston County, two of the hardest hit areas where tornadoes touched down Monday afternoon and caused mass injuries, emergency officials said.

Tornadoes also moved through Hinds, Madison, Simpson and Rankin counties Monday evening.

"I've been doing this a long time, and I don't know if I've ever seen anything like this. It just goes on and on, and I suspect it will continue into the evening hours and overnight," Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Robert Latham said during a news conference Monday evening at the MEMA headquarters in Pearl.

The twisters blew out windows at Winston County Medical Center and piled cars in the hospital's parking lot on top of one another.

Emergency officials said 60 people were injured in Louisville.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center sent a three-person triage team to Louisville, said medical center spokesman Jack Mazurak.

Two of Winston County Medical Center's walls were down, a third was damaged, and hospital officials were dealing with a gas leak, Mazurak said. UMMC sent in a "fast team" of three medical staff to assess and help in triaging of any casualties, and also sent a portion of the medical center's field hospital to back up local officials.

UMMC has activated its emergency preparedness plan and made sure beds were open. No patients have been received at UMMC, but the hospital is supporting outside agencies handling any potential patients, Mazurak said.

UMMC late Monday sent a specialized pediatric transport team to Winston County, Mazurak said. "The overall plan is to help local residents with collecting, assessing and treating the wounded," he said. "We have a mobile field hospital unit there and will be rotating physicians and emergency responder teams there tonight and tomorrow."

Debris from the Louisville twisters later littered Starkville and Columbus. Mississippi State University's athletic director Scott Stricklin tweeted from his verified account a photo of a sliver of a roofing shingle that landed at the Bryan Athletic Administration Building on campus.

Caledonia resident Reid Carter's wife summoned him outside because pieces of tar paper, leaves and paint chips had started to litter his yard.

"Nothing real big, and all of it was falling from way up in the sky," he said.

Lowndes County had tornadoes of its own. The National Weather Service reported a large twister moving into the Columbus city limits a little after 6 p.m.

State Sen. Giles Ward, R-Louisville, reported he and his family were safe, but their Jordan Circle home, and many others in his neighborhood, were destroyed by a tornado Monday.

But his cellphone had gotten wet, and Ward could report little else.

"Hello ... Hello," Ward said when first contacted. "This is Giles Ward, my cellphone got wet and I can't hear you, I'm just assuming you can hear me. Our family is OK, thank goodness. Our house as well as all the houses in our neighborhood it appears are destroyed. But our family is safe. Thank you for calling."

Later, via text, Ward said that he, his wife, his daughter and son-in law, two granddaughters "and our 19-year-old dog" had been in his home when the storm hit.

"I have never prayed so hard in my life," Ward said. "God is good. All we have lost is stuff."

To contact Therese Apel, call (601) 961-7236 or follow @TRex21 on Twitter. To contact Clay Chandler, call (601) 961-7264 or follow @claychand on Twitter.