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A tornado touched down in Smith County at a local high school and caused damage to multiple homes.

Smith County Fire Marshal Jay Brooks said the tornado briefly touched down on the Winona High School football field at 10:36 a.m. Monday.

The Winona ISD Police Chief saw the tornado touch down and the school was briefly placed on a lockdown but is now operating on its regular schedule, Brooks said at 10:50 a.m.

“We want to thank all of the Winona ISD staff for quickly following our emergency protocols to keep kids safe,” Winona ISD said in a statement. 

Brooks also had reports of four houses being damaged, as well as power lines and minor damage to the high school. The National Weather Service of Shreveport said the storm had since moved out of the area.

Smith County Precinct 4 Constable Josh Joplin said the tornado took down the fence perimeter of the city water tower, completely destroyed a modular building, and threw football equipment from the football field into a nearby pasture. A portable building was lying in the middle of Johnson Road.

He said the tornado appeared to have spun up on Johnson Road, traveled across the Winona High School field, over to Hussey Circle and moved north toward Big Sandy. He said there appeared to be quite a bit of damage in the Hussey Circle neighborhood.

“This probably is the only one I’ve seen that’s done this amount of damage in a short amount of time,” Constable Joplin said.

More information will be provided as it becomes available.