By John Surratt and Alana Norris

 

A series of thunderstorms hit the Vicksburg/Warren County area Thursday afternoon, knocking out power to residents and businesses and downing trees that blocked city streets and county roads.

Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said the storm brought pea-size hail and was responsible for reports of tress being down in the city and across the county. Traffic lights were also reported out across the city.

Warrenton Road, Porters Chapel Road and Nailor Road all had blocked areas Friday morning because of trees that had fallen across the roadway, Elfer said.

At the height of the storm about 8,000 people were without power, according to information from Entergy Mississippi. Entergy spokeswoman Shelia McKinnis said the outages were scattered in the city and the county. As of 8:45 a.m. Friday morning, McKinnis said 5,400 customers were still without power in Claiborne and Warren counties.

“The Warrenton Road area appears to be the hardest hit,” she said. “We have a lot of trees on power lines all over the area, and utility poles broken on both sides of the road in the 4900 block of Halls Ferry Road.”

She said Entergy crews were calling for a bulldozer to help remove one tree on Warrenton Road.

“We’re still assessing damage,” McKinnis said adding there is no timetable for how long it will take to restore power.

Southpark Elementary School was without power Friday morning. Superintendent Chad Shealy said because roads were passable, the school would not close to students able to attend. The elementary school was transported to the Warren Central High School Auditorium until power is restored. He said students would be fed and taught from the auditorium until returning to the elementary school at the end of the day if power is not restored sooner.

“We will still have regular dismissal at Southpark,” Shealy said.

Entergy was working to get power restored as soon as possible but were behind schedule because of a tree limb damaging some of their equipment, he said. Parents wanting to check their students out can do so at building A of the high school, he said.

In the county, a tree was reported to have fallen on a house on the 4000 block of Shenandoah Road. Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said. The homeowner was at her mailbox and watched as the pine tree fell on her home, he said. Pace also reported a downed tree on Jeff Davis Road.

Vicksburg Street Department superintendent Skipper Whittington said trees were down on Bellwood Drive, Lake Hill Drive and Magnolia Street. He said trees have fallen on two homes on Warrenton Road.

“Warrenton Road is the worst,” Whittington said. “There are several big trees down and we can’t get to them because we have trees blocking access to Warrenton and we can’t begin to work on them until Entergy comes and removes their lines.”

Elfer said no injuries have been reported and there is a chance for more thunderstorms Friday afternoon.