Tornado claims second life as man repairing roof falls to his death

Published 6:30 am Thursday, February 28, 2019

A Mississippi man has died while repairing a Columbus roof that was damaged by a tornado over the weekend.

Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant tells The Commercial Dispatch that 77-year-old Donald Charles “Donnie” Schippel fell 12 feet from the roof of a local business Wednesday afternoon. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The newspaper says Schippel’s death is the second reported death related to the storm that hit the area Saturday afternoon. A building that collapsed under the storm’s strength injured 41-year-old Ashley Glynell Pounds, of Tupelo. She died that night at a hospital.

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