LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- Storms with heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 80 mph damaged homes, barns and businesses and left at least two people dead and several others injured.

Power failures and wind damage were reported in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee on Thursday. A tornado was confirmed in eastern Arkansas, the National Weather Service said.

"Some of the trees that made it through Katrina might not make it through this," said Ceroy Jefferson, assistant superintendent for Jefferson Davis County Schools, one of many districts that dismissed students early.

Unusually severe straight-line winds did much of the damage, the National Weather Service said. More severe weather was predicted for the region, as forecasters said heavy storms could result from a system that expected to pass through Arkansas on Monday.

A lightning-sparked house fire killed an 83-year-old Thomas Davis in the southwest Arkansas town of Ashdown. Near Memphis, Tenn., 48-year-old Susan Lake of Burlison was killed when heavy rains caused her sport-utility vehicle to hydroplane out of control and strike an oncoming tractor-trailer, authorities said.

The weather service traced a tornado's path in eastern Arkansas for nearly 8 miles in Woodruff County. The agency estimated the twister's winds at 150 mph and said it injured four people and damaged 18 homes, a welding shop, a church, a hunting lodge and several large grain-storage bins.

There also were reports of a tornado touching down at an elementary school in Indianola, Miss. Children huddled in hallways as the storm passed through.

"Some windows were blown out and some water damage was sustained in classrooms and the school library," said Valerie Simpson, assistant principal of Lockard Elementary School.

Around Little Rock, the high wind rolled over a mobile home and damaged about a dozen other homes, and trees and power lines were down around the state. Road signs were reported bent in Johnson County, in northwestern Arkansas.

About 7,600 homes and businesses in Arkansas lost electricity when power lines went out after being hit by trees or other power lines, and the wind kept workers from making immediate repairs.

Storm debris blocked U.S. 64 and Union Pacific Railroad tracks for a time, and a train had to be halted so the debris could be cleared from the tracks.

A couple in the northeast Arkansas town of Tilton suffered cuts and bruises after they left their mobile home and took shelter in their vehicle. The storm blew out the vehicle's windows - but the trailer was destroyed, said Gerald Britton, a deputy emergency coordinator in Cross County. Other homes in the county were also damaged, Britton said.

The high winds in Mississippi took off roofs and otherwise damaged homes in Bolivar and Panola counties, said Lea Stokes, spokeswoman for the state emergency agency.

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