Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 2

2A THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2012 CLARIONLEDGER.COM THE CLARION-LEDGER FROM THE COVER It r' 3- 1 t- Si 1 am HiirA i-f ti mill rnT -Jh- ii il mtamhmm mii.bim.i Sandy McCardle surveys the damage to her best friend's daughter's suite in McNeill on Wednesday. The entire suite, balcony and a third floor were destroyed, rogelio v. solisap of. Kevin Briggs cuts into a downed tree as friends wait to remove the wood as cleanup continues Wednesday at his father-in-law's home in McNeill. Storms Continued from Page 1A kinson.

This allows state resources to be used throughout the impacted areas to assist local governments in responding to this disaster. MEMA Area Coordinators have deployed to the affected areas. Pearl River County EMA Director Danny Manley said at least a dozen homes near the McNeill community were destroyed in the severe weather. Eight people were transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A shelter has opened in Pearl River County at 1376 McNeill Steephollow Road in Carriere to house those whose homes were impacted.

Bennie Vine of McComb said his business in Centerville was damaged. The gas pumps in front of Vine Brothers were blown off their foundations, he said. "I had two fuel dispensers blown over," he said. "I've been on the phone, and I just had a supplier in Jackson, a fuel equipment supplier, who came down and moved them out of the way and plugged the lines." It also tore off part of the roof on the back of his building, Vine said. At least 19 of the damaged buildings were in Lawrence County, said Undersheriff Willie Wallace.

"Where it hit looks like a war zone," he said. "We were just very fortunate. There was one trailer, A vehicle passes storm weather debris collected along U.S. if 11 in McNeill on Wednesday. 'ft hicles out.

She said the power company doesn't know when they'll be able to get there. "When the pole broke, it fell in our horse's paddock and the transformer blew," she said, adding that the horse got panicked. "We couldn't get to him for hot wires. Thank the Lord no life was lost. We've got a mess." National Weather Service teams sent Wednesday to study damage patterns determined that the Retail Continued from Page 1A shooting tragedy and worries about the fiscal cliff.

Evans also speculated the weather might have played a role. "I had people shopping on Christmas Eve in shorts," he said. "It's kind of funny. I'm glad I wasn't selling sweaters." Holiday sales are a Bush Continued from Page 1A go away." But he said the bronchitis-like cough that initially brought Bush to the hospital has improved. Bush was visited on Christmas by his wife, Barbara, his son Neil, are still compiling information on the damage, and it's not clear how many of the 70 homes were destroyed and how many sustained lesser damage.

Carr urged people to avoid downed power lines and to use caution in using alternative sources to heat their homes after the storm brought frigid temperatures. Bobbie Mullins of Terry said a broken power pole and a pine tree are stretched across her driveway, and she and her husband can't get their ve from the Guangzhou South China, chen yehuaap corruption investigation months before the crash. Trains on the latest high-speed line will initially run at 186 mph with a total travel time of about eight hours. Before, the fastest time between the two cities by train was more than 20 hours. Al i there were a couple of people inside and it just blew the trailer across the road and rolled it, but they weren't injured." Wallace said one area that was hit particularly hard was a mobile home park, and several of the mobile homes took heavy damage.

One Lawrence County resident was struck by lightning as he stood in his doorway watching the storm, Wallace said. He has been treated and was released from a local hospital. Carr said authorities I1 if la A bullet train leaves for Beijing Railway Station in Guangzhou, i TT China debuts new rail line Ted Williams places a box of kitchen utensils on a stack of recovered items as friends help him pack up the remains of his family's home in McNeill. ward the Northeast. At least six people were killed in the storms across the country.

Red Cross spokesman Jarrod Ravencraft said the organization is working to clothe, house and feed people in 10 Mississippi counties, but it wasn't immediately clear how many people had sought shelter and aid. To contact Therese Ape, call (601) 961-7236. She is TRex21 on Twitter. cliff provides an opportunity for a renewed shopping surge, Maloney said. "There could be a silver lining in what's going on he said.

"I think it will be a larger January than a lot of people are anticipating." The Associated Press contributed to this report. To contact Emily Lane, call (601) 961-7075. She is Qemilymlane on Twitter. Kennebunkport, Maine. The former president was a naval aviator in World War II at one point the youngest in the Navy and was shot down over the Pacific.

He achieved notoriety in retirement for skydiving on at least three of his birthdays since leaving the White House in January 1993. tornado in Pearl River County was rated EF-3, and tornadoes in Forrest County and Lawrence County were rated EF-2. In addition, an EF-1 tornado occurred near Ovett in southeast Jones County. The scale used classifies tornadoes according to strength. An EF-5 is the most violent storm.

The storm spun off dozens of tornadoes along the Gulf Coast and dumped snow on the nation's midsection before pushing to- crucial indicator of the economy's strength. Nationally, November and December account for up to 40 percent of annual sales for many retailers. If those sales don't materialize, stores are forced to offer steeper discounts. That's a boon for shoppers, but cuts into stores' profits. While retailers wait to see how returns will affect their December numbers, the potential of resolution of the fiscal and Neil's wife, Maria, and a grandson, McGrath said.

The 41st president has also been visited twice by his sons George W. Bush, the 43rd president, and Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida. Bush and his wife live in Houston during the winter and spend their summers at a home in i I --il Associated Press BEIJING China on Wednesday opened the world's longest highspeed rail line that more than halves the time required to travel from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou, an economic hub in southern China. The opening of the 1,428 mile-line was commemorated by the 9 a.m. departure of a train from Beijing for Guangzhou.

Another train left Guangzhou for Beijing an hour later. China has massive resources and considerable prestige invested in its showcase high-speed railways program. But it has in recent months faced high-profile problems: part of a line collapsed in central China after heavy rains in March, while a bullet train crash in the summer of 2011 killed 40 people. The former railway minister, who spearheaded the bullet train's construction, and the ministry's chief engineer, were detained in an unrelated 4.