Large hail, damaging winds and strong tornadoes are possible when a storm system rolls in northwest of Vicksburg this afternoon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service said today.

“Your area will not be ground zero, but you’re at least on the edge,” said Eric Carpenter. “And, it’s not clear-cut yet.

“The worst storms will be fairly isolated and not widespread,” he said. “Where it does hit, though, will be severe.”

Warren County was slammed Friday by what meteorologists have said were two tornadoes and straight-line winds that downed trees, destroyed homes and cut electricity to nearly half of Entergy’s Warren County customers.

Early this morning, a line of storms was west of Vicksburg moving in on the Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas area and headed to northwest Louisiana.

“Ahead of that could be some thunderstorm development,” Carpenter said.

With the threat of severe weather, crews are prepared for round 2, said Entergy spokesman Don Arnold.

“We’re holding several contract crews in the Vicksburg area and in Jackson,” he said. “Hopefully it will go north. We’ve got our fingers crossed.”

All of the 12,000 customers who lost power last week and about 200 who unexpectedly were in the dark Tuesday morning had power restored by today, Arnold said.

Cable TV, franchised here by Vicksburg Video, had been restored to all but about 1,720 of 8,600 customers this morning, manager Beau Balch said.

The hardest hit areas were Roseland and Crestwood drives, Paxton and Stenson roads and Warriors Trail, he said.

Damage reports with Mississippi Emergency Management Agency indicate five homes in Warren County received major damage from the storm and 45 homes had minor damage. Jeff Rent, a MEMA spokesman, said assessment teams will make windshield assessments today, meaning local, state and federal officials will drive through the area to document damage. If qualified, homeowners and businesses with major damage will be allowed to apply for low-interest loans with the Small Business Administration.

While damage from last week’s storm is being assessed, city crews today had orders to respond immediately if streets are blocked or other damage is reported, said Mayor Laurence Leyens.

“We are in a continuous, proactive mode. Crews are continuing to clean gutters. The National Weather Service said there is a high probability of a strong storm, so we’re continuing in that mode,” he said. “Crews were out within 20 minutes (of Friday’s storm). They couldn’t have done any better.”

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said deputies already are patrolling across the county and more will be deployed if more damage occurs.

“In a bad storm, we always deploy additional units more toward the affected area,” he said.

Carpenter said the biggest threat of severe weather for this area would be this afternoon through late tonight, when the severe weather is expected to subside. While rain and storms are in the forecast for Friday, the severe weather should cease, he said.