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"It was about 3:45 yesterday afternoon when the tornado touched down just outside the city limits of Monticello," he said. "We were very fortunate that no one lost their lives. I think we took five people to the hospital. We did have a good bit of property damage."
Wallace told me a real estate business and a mobile home park were destroyed by the storm. He said two people were injured when a fireworks stand being operated out of a mobile home was blown about 100 ft. across Hwy. 27. He said most of those who were injured were suffering chest pains or were very shaken up.
I asked him if he was certain it was a tornado.
"Oh yes," he said. "It was a tornado. There were some tombstones that were in the cemetery that were blown around, right by a building that got blown away."
He said it passed right by the Georgia Pacific paper mill, but did no damage there.
"We were really blessed by God that nobody was killed," he said.
The National Weather Service was expected to visit the county Wednesday to determine the strength and type of winds that hit the county. They were also expected to visit Stone, Forrest, Jones and Lauderdale counties, where possible tornadoes were also reported.
