Tornado demolishes chicken houses in Mississippi’s Wayne County

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    WAYNESORO, Mississippi (WALA) — A tornado on Wednesday damaged houses, split trees, downed power lines and – most dramatically – demolished six commercial chicken houses about 15 miles west of here.

The twister was part of a wave of nasty weather moving toward Alabama that prompted Gov. Kay Ivey to declare a state of emergency for all 67 counties.

Bryan McLain, who owns the chicken houses off of Strengthford Cooley Road, told FOX10 News that he was on the property in his pickup truck when the storm descended.

“Total chaos. Scared,” he said, recalling the ordeal.

McLain said the business is a 100 percent loss. Only the doors remained standing afterward. The only saving grace, he said, is that he already had sold all of the chickens, so the buildings were empty.

“Could have been a lot worse. … No one was hurt,” he said. “Two of use were on the phone, and the two of us came out without any scratch. So, it would have been worse.’

Scott Smith, who owns chicken houses on the adjacent, property, marveled at how the tornado left his buildings untouched.

“We were getting ready to come over here when it came through,” he said, referring to McLain’s property.

Stacy Hoover, a dispatcher at the Wayne County Emergency Management Agency, told FOX10 News that in addition to the chicken houses, there were reports of two damaged houses, on Eucutta Road and Hal Clark Drive, and on Bear Four Shubuta Road, along with many downed power lines and trees.

But Hoover said there were no reports of injuries or deaths.

As for McLain, he said there is only one thing to do now.

“Wait on insurance companies,” he said.

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