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JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — Crews have started rebuilding a high school destroyed when a deadly tornado swept through Joplin in May 2011.

Broadcaster KOAM reports that the first structural beams for the school were dropped into place Wednesday. This was the first work visible to the community on a building that Superintendent C.J. Huff calls the hub of the community.

Previous work on utilities and footings for the 504,000-square-foot building was largely done underground.

Huff watched as a crane moved the beams into place. He says the work is good for the community to see.

The tornado that destroyed the school hit soon after an offsite graduation ceremony. One graduate was sucked out of a vehicle and killed.

Since then, older students have been attending classes in a converted

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - The people of Hattiesburg, Miss., are trying to assess the damage after a tornado tore through the city on Sunday.

It was part of a wave of severe storms that downed trees, damaged buildings and injured more than a dozen people.

The twister traveled down one of Hattiesburg's main streets and mangled homes, commercial buildings and structures on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. Emergency officials say at least 10 people were injured in surrounding Forrest County and three were hurt to the west in Marion County, but they aren't aware of any deaths.

A Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman says it appears that a single tornado caused the damage in those two counties and Lamar County. Hundreds of homes are damaged in Forrest County, along with a couple dozen in the other two.

On the campus of the university, trees were snapped in half around the heavily damaged Alumni House where part of the roof was ripped away. The university says no one was hurt but that it was under a state of emergency, anyone away from campus should stay away until further notice.