Senator Wicker arrives in the little town of BUDE...

Photo taken by Delton Butler.

A tornado hit the town my parents live in, but their home was not damaged thank goodness. There was only one truck working on power lines in the whole county until the local's called Fox 40.  Then the next day, they were coming in like wild flies...

Sen. Wicker Tours Franklin County Damage

FOX 40 News toured Gustav's aftermath near Meadville where law enforcement say they saw a tornado.

By Matt Johnson

Story Created: Sep 3, 2008 at 9:25 PM CDT

Story Updated: Sep 3, 2008 at 9:46 PM CDT 

U.S. Senator Roger Wicker visited four south Mississippi counties Wednesday in response to the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav. 

FOX 40 News was with Wicker in Franklin county where he toured storm damage and met with local leaders in Meadville and Bude.

As we were touring with Wicker, FOX 40 News learned of a tornado sighting just a half our earlier. "Somebody said something about a cloud that looked out of place and once we started looking at it we saw the rotation in it, we just sat there and watched it for two or three minutes on the ground," said Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks officer Steven Smith.

Downed power lines, uprooted trees and flooding were evident in and around Bude, Mississippi where officials believe the storm struck. Fortunately, no one was injured.

"Everybody we've checked on up until this point is fine," Smith said. Sen. Wicker said he's trying to find the facts on any damage left by Gustav. Wicker is focusing mostly on asking Franklin county officials what, if any help they need from the federal or state government.

"The water is being delivered, the food is being delivered and a lot of it by volunteers and of course ice, so I feel pretty good about the government response," Sen. Wicker said. 

"Lessons learned from Katrina have helped us this time." Sen. Wicker is pleading with the federal government to grant disaster relief money to 13 additional southern Mississippi counties. Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties were granted federal aid Wednesday. As of Wednesday night, it hadn't happened.

P.S.  We now have no light at our house.  They went out sometime during the night last night. Who knows when we will get them back on.  When I called the light company at 0500 this morning, they could not even give me an estimate of when to expect them to be restored..