A tornado touched down at several locations in the West Tennessee region Tuesday afternoon and evening, causing widespread damage, including parts of Weakley County. This resulted in police, fire, and other emergency service personnel being called out to provide assistance to area residents affected by the storm.
     According to early unconfirmed reports, a home believed to belong to Bill McCall, who resides on Claude Capps Road near Greenfield, as well as a mobile home on Kimery Store Road thought to be owned by a family by the name of Sawyers, were both severely damaged by high winds when the storm system moved through the county.
     The National Weather Service in Memphis give a forecast late Tuesday afternoon for the Weakley County area calling for a tornado watch until 5 p.m., and later in the evening, a chance of high winds and severe thunderstorms with possible wind damage, and the chance of rain was predicted to be 100 percent. Other local counties included in the tornado and severe thunderstorm watch included: Carroll, Crockett, Dyer, Gibson, Haywood, Henry, Lauderdale, and Obion.
     In neighboring Henry County, a large funnel cloud was spotted around 2:50 p.m. Although approximately 20 minor injuries resulted from the storm, there were no deaths reported. There was however widespread property damage, including the Mohan International Furniture Manufacturing plant and the Henry County Highway Department.
     In Madison County, a tornado reportedly hit near the Jackson Airport causing damage there. And warnings were given for homes and businesses in the area of Old Hickory Mall. Also, a flash flood watch was given for Madison County until 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.
     Additionally, tornado watches were issued for certain counties in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Kentucky. An entire mobile home park in Benton, Kentucky was reportedly destroyed by the storm.
     Some area events were cancelled because of the hazardous weather, including the Dresden and West Carroll game.
(See the Dresden Enterprise next week for more storm damage information.)

     Members of the Gleason Board of Mayor and Alderpersons approved measures to address various water and sewer related issues during Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting.
Water & Sewer Testing
     One of the top items for discussion was how to handle a significant price increase in the services provided the city by Water Pro, which currently is under contract to do the city’s testing of water and sewer samples, as required by state law.
    Representatives of the company, Eddie O’Neil and Rick McBride were present to explain that they have been doing this daily testing for the past 2-½ years at a cost of $1,288 per month. However, they stated that their firm could no longer continue to offer the service at this price. They said that originally, they had hoped that other local municipalities might sign with their company, which would make it more cost effective for them to travel to the area to perform the service, but this has not happened.
With this in mind, the Water Pro representatives offered the city two proposals to continue providing the service.
     The first is to continue operating as they are, but at the significantly higher price of $4,730, which is an increase of $3,442.

(Read the rest of this story in this week's print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)