JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Parts of northern Mississippi are dealing with damaged homes, toppled trees and downed power lines after a powerful storm rolled across the nation's midsection overnight.
Weather experts say the storm also hit parts of Tennessee and there are reports of minor damage in Arkansas.
A spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency says at least six northern counties in the state have reported damage but so far there's no word of any deaths or injuries.
There are reports of utility poles snapped from the force of the winds and a tree fell on at least one home.
Authorities say it's not yet clear if these were tornadoes or straight-line winds -- or some other type of storm.
A meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center says the storms extended from southwest Louisiana across Mississippi and the front is expected to move through southwest Alabama during the morning.
049-a-08-(Greg Dial (dyl), meteorologist, National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center, in AP interview)-"to southwestern Alabama"-Storm Prediction Center meteorologist Greg Dial says severe weather continues over parts of the country's midsection. (18 Oct 2012)
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047-a-15-(Greg Dial (dyl), meteorologist, National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center, in AP interview)-"sort of thing"-Storm Prediction Center meteorologist Greg Dial was asked if the severe weather in parts of the country's midsection caused any damage or injury. (18 Oct 2012)
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APPHOTO NY2: This NOAA satellite image taken Thursday, Oct. 17, 2012 at 1:45 a.m. EDT shows a line of strong and severe thunderstorms along a cold front moving into the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. A warm front extends across the northern Great Lakes to New York with areas of showers and rain. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are near the Florida Keys. (AP Photo/Weather Underground) (17 Oct 2012)
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