May 19, 2013
(CNN) -- Two tornadoes touched down in Mississippi before dawn Thursday, damaging about 70 homes and flattening a church, emergency officials said.
About 4 a.m., a tornado damaged about 60 homes near Magee, about 40 miles southeast of Jackson in central Mississippi, said Katherine Gunby, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Earlier, another tornado damaged nine homes and businesses in Lauderdale County, about 90 miles east of Jackson, near the Alabama border, CNN affiliate WAPT reported.
The tornadoes destroyed Corinth Baptist church in Magee, leaving only its doors standing.
"The church means so much to this community," Pastor Wes Brooks told WAPT.
"We're going to survive. The building is destroyed, but the church is alive," he said. "We're going to come back and rebuild. The weather's not going to stop us."
Two people were airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Gunby said. No fatalities were reported, she said.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation and power companies are working to restore power to the state, she said.
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