A Ford Crown Victoria and a Ford Explorer stand crushed after a wind-blown oak tree fell on the two vehicles Saturday afternoon at Lake Hill Apartments. (The Vicksburg Post/PAT SHANNAHAN)

[02/26/01] Two children were injured Saturday morning when strong winds blew through Vicksburg and knocked over a 90-foot oak tree, demolishing two vehicles and zapping electricity to area homes.

Frederick Allen, 10, and his cousin Burnetta Allen, 8, were injured as the tree slammed to the ground yards from where they were playing at Lake Hill Apartments behind the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Waterways Experiment Station.

Burnetta suffered cuts on her head, and Frederick’s head and shoulder were injured when they were hit as the giant oak’s limbs knocked them to the ground.

Frederick’s grandmother, whose name also is Burnetta Allen, said the boy was more seriously injured than his cousin in the accident at about 9:30 a.m.

“His shoulder is hurt, and he has a bruise on his head,” she said. “He’s all right. We were told to keep an eye on him in case he may have a concussion.”

Miss Allen said the children were treated and released from ParkView Regional Medical Center.

The tree fell as winds in the city gusted to about 30 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Warren and surrounding counties were under a tornado watch until 11 p.m.

The tree on Lake Hill, which was about 8 feet in diameter, crushed a Ford Explorer and a Crown Victoria and took down power lines in its path.

The Crown Victoria was owned by Frederick’s father, Fred Mace Jr., who had arrived to pick up his son, Allen said.

She said Frederick had just loaded his clothes in the car. Allen said if she had not been on the phone, Frederick and his father would have been in the vehicle. She also said Frederick hollered at his cousin as the tree began to fall and she jumped off a scooter she was riding and ran. The scooter was demolished.

“Everybody was really lucky,” Allen said. “If they had gotten in the car, who knows what could have happened.”

The tree blew over as several children played outside.

Paris Moore, 11, and her cousin LaToya Moore, 11, said there was no warning that the tree was about to fall.

It “just fell over,” Paris said. “I was really scared. I just started hollering.”

The owner of the Ford Explorer, Raymond Reed, said he wasn’t outside when the tree fell, but was glad it wasn’t more serious.

“It’s pretty fortunate there weren’t a lot of kids out here,” Reed said. “Usually, there are a lot of children out here playing, and it could have been a lot worse.”

Across the city, power also was reported out on Fort Hill Drive during the morning’s high winds, a 911 dispatcher supervisor said.

Electricity at Lake Hill was restored after about seven hours, residents said.

Today, the National Weather Service said, the high winds that were expected to bring storms to the area overnight were expected to move out of the area. High temperatures were expected to be in the 70s again, and the lows were expected to be in the mid-40s.

The wind and stormy weather in Mississippi was part of a front that moved easterly from Texas and Arkansas, where severe thunderstorms and tornadoes downed power lines and damaged homes and buildings, injuring several people.

The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down in College Station, Ark., Saturday afternoon.

Resident Ira Akins, 75, said his home was heavily damaged. He had lost another home to a tornado in 1997.

“First thing I know, the storm was here and blew the roof off,” Akins said. “We laid down on the floor.”

No one in the home was hurt.

State police spokesman Kim Fontaine said the force had reports of only minor injuries. Injuries also were reported in Fulton County in northeastern Arkansas.

In Denton County, Texas, heavy rain, hail and winds blew off roofs and downed power lines.