A tornado touched down on the Mississippi State University campus Sunday afternoon, causing some severe damage to buildings, as well as damaging and even uprooting many trees.
Eight to 10 buildings received some type of damage on campus, executive director of facilities Jim Jones said.
“The tornado hit on the south side of campus, on the other side of the CVM, then, made a straight path to [Highway] 182, touching down wherever it pleased,” Jones said.
Among those buildings damaged, Perry Cafeteria, the Pace Seed lab and the Lloyd-Ricks annex took the most significant damage, Jones said.
University workers cleaned up the debris, protected damaged buildings by putting up tarps and plywood and repaired power lines Sunday night, President Charles Lee said.
“We’re committed to getting our food service and everything else back on line just as soon as we can,” Lee said.
They continued working through Monday, picking up debris and repairing buildings.
Perry Cafeteria was closed Monday, but the cafeteria provided dining services in The Union Ballroom and several other locations on campus, interim police chief Georgia Lindley said.
“They are hoping to have [Perry] open by Tuesday or Wednesday,” she said.
The National Weather Service rated the tornado at F1-the lowest being F0, MSU professor of geosciences Charles Wax said.
“It was probably still in the air when it went over the university, but it probably touched down east of campus in the trailer park,” Wax said.
The city of Starkville has provided as much help as it can, Lee said.
“The mayor has been extraordinarily generous about sending anyone that can help us,” Lee said.
Workers are making quick, simple repairs for now, but several engineers surveyed the campus Monday afternoon and met with Jones to discuss options for long-term repairs. A final decision will be made over the next few days, but that decision will depend on costs and availability of materials, Jones said.
The tornado came up Stone Boulevard, through Lloyd-Ricks and Perry Cafeteria and across Lee Boulevard, and it touched down for the last time at University Hills trailer park, Lindley said.
“We’re assessing damage, and we’re taking reports from people whose vehicles were damaged,” Lindley said.
Police are also taking building damage reports and providing traffic control, focusing on minimizing traffic in those areas that have taken the most damage. These areas include the area of Lee Boulevard in front of Bell Island, the area around Lloyd-Ricks and Stone Boulevard, Lindley said.
Adam Monroe, a junior majoring in computer science, was working as a desk assistant in Hull Hall Sunday at about 3 p.m. when he noticed the wind pick up, he said.
“It was just like a wave of wind,” Monroe said.
It pushed limbs down and knocked over trees on Bell Island, the grassy area in front of Hull Hall. One of the limbs that fell hurt someone, Monroe said.
“This guy that was outside came in with a bloody nose and said a limb had fallen on him,” Monroe said.
Monroe called the desk assistant that was coming in later that day and told her to stay where she was, then he alerted some of the resident assistants in the residence hall about the tornado, he said.
“It was pretty creepy,” Monroe said. The sirens went off, and everyone went into the hall. Monroe stayed there for a few hours, waiting until they would allow everyone to go back to their rooms, he said.
Hours after the tornado touched down, Lee said the university’s main concern was human safety.
“We know we have some major roof damage to a number of buildings, but really we’ve just been focusing on human safety,” he said.
Three minor injuries were reported, including a young man who received a broken nose due to a tree branch hitting him in the face. There were no major injuries, Lindley said.
The university also focused it’s attention first on getting several gas leaks stopped, as well as moving power lines out of the streets, Lee said.
“The most significant [gas leak] was in the kitchen of the Cafeteria,” Lee said. “When the storm came through there, it ripped some lines up andexposed the natural gas.”
The last storm tornado-like storm to cause major damage on campus was not a tornado but a derecho, or straight-line winds, and occurred in February 2001. In 1988, a small tornado caused damage on the west side of campus in the area of the football practice field, Wax said.
It’s normal to have tornadoes spawned by a storm like Rita, but the number of tornadoes reported Sunday, as many as 25 around the state, was surprising, Wax said.
Tyler Stewart contributed to this article.

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Sunday's tornado tore a hole in the roof of the Lloyd-Ricks Annex, which is located behind Perry Cafeteria and houses the Robert Holland Faculty Senate and the University Committee on Courses and Curricula.