A possible tornado ripped through Cleveland, Mississippi, on Sunday night, damaging two department stores and a nearby subdivision, officials said Monday.

No injuries were reported.

The storm did knock out the county's communication network and the local hospital stopped taking patients, said Kimberly Broadwater of the Bolivar County Volunteer Fire Department said The storm also caused a gas leak that has since been capped, she said.

"We've got a mess on our hands," Broadwater said.

It was unclear Monday if the storm was a tornado. The National Weather Service sent out an alert that a tornado had touched down, but authorities were still trying to determine if the damage was done by a tornado or straight-line winds.

Lee Tedder of the Bolivar County Sheriff's Office said the Sears and Walmart stores in the northwestern Mississippi town of 12,000 people had lost their roofs in the storm, but Broadwater said the Sears store had been demolished.

Downed trees and power lines had damaged homes in the nearby subdivision, Tedder said.

Warning sires went off before the storm hit, Tedder said.

"Everyone was just lucky," he said.ç

comment: I think the same everyone is lucky but also sorry for the place that was destroyed