Tornadoes Are More Powerful Than We Realize

A possible tornado was reported in eastern Mississippi Thursday evening as a strong weather system continued its march across the Gulf Coast. According to the Storm Prediction Center, there were 121 storm reports Thursday – 66 hail reports, 53 wind damage reports and two tornado reports.

The same system dropped baseball-sized hail over parts of Mississippi earlier Thursday, as well as tennis ball-sized hail in Texas Thursday morning, shattering numerous car windshields.

(FORECAST: Severe Weather Sweeping Gulf Coast)

Here are the latest impacts from this system.

Mississippi

After a week of catastrophic flooding, Mississippi was in the bull's-eye for severe weather yet again Thursday night, but there were only a few reports of damage.

Multiple area residents posted photos of an apparent tornado in Harrison County on social media early Thursday evening, but there was only one report of downed tree limbs from the storm, Harrison County Emergency Management Director Rupert Lacy told the Associated Press. The National Weather Service will survey the damage to determine if a tornado actually touched down in the area Thursday night.

Elsewhere in the Magnolia State, strong winds blew the roof off a Miles Lumber Co. building in Silver Creek, and there were other reports of trees falling on houses, the AP also said. About 14,000 Mississippi customers lost power in the storms.

Golf ball-sized hail or larger has also been reported in southern Mississippi.

Texas

Severe thunderstorms packing large hail and possible damaging wind gusts hit the Lone Star State on Thursday. Many in the Fort Worth area were awakened by severe thunderstorms packing large hail as they moved through early Thursday morning.

Just after 4 a.m. CDT, the first severe thunderstorm moved through, resulting in numerous reports of hail the size of golf balls and ping pong balls. Dime-sized hail was also abundant across the area.

A second severe storm packing more large hail moved through the Fort Worth area after 7:00 a.m. CDT. That storm produced hail up to the size of tennis balls near Texas Christian University.

Some cars were damaged by the hail and had their windshields smashed in the Fort Worth area. A total of 23 ambulances were taken out of service at MedStar in Fort Worth due to hail damage, according to a report submitted to the NWS.

Several birds were killed by the hailstones at the Fort Worth Zoo, according to Fox4News.com.

The West Division of the Fort Worth police department suffered roof damage during the storms, resulting in water damage in their office.

In northeastern Texas, roof damage was reported to several businesses and a jail in Clarksville late Thursday morning.