Entergy employee Bruce Hulitt drags tree limbs from Bellaire Drive Monday after a tree fell on a power line, knocking two transformers off the connecting pole. Electricity was out for about six hours as crews replaced the pole and transformers.(The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)>

[04/09/02] The storm system that swept through Vicksburg Monday is to blame for several power outages and wrecks in the area.

Allen Maxwell of the E-911 Dispatch Office counted 22 calls to downed trees and 14 wrecks, three of them with people hurt.

The worst of the storm moved through Vicksburg around 4:30 a.m. Monday with heavy rain and winds up to 40 mph. Since then, more than 2.26 inches of rain has fallen in Vicksburg.

Cheryl Comans, customer service manager of Entergy, said a surge of afternoon storms left about 575 customers without power, mostly caused by fallen trees and limbs.

“Most had power back on by 6 p.m.,” she said. She said this morning about 10 customers were without power in the county.

Billy Riddle of the Warren County Emergency Management Office said seven of the trees were down in the city limits, including one on Bellaire Drive that had power off for the area until nearly 10 p.m. Other areas with fallen trees included Bovina Cutoff, U.S. 61 South, Fisher Ferry Road, Lake Park and the Mississippi 27 area.

Comans said most of the power outages were in south Vicksburg, near Jeff Davis and Hankinson Road. Crews wrapped up work this morning on Fisher Ferry Road, Joyce Lane and Dudley.

Entergy worked local crews and company out-of-town crews until midnight, then contracted crews until 6 a.m., Comans said.

Early Monday morning, storms left more than 700 customers of Entergy without power.

One incident of flash flooding triggered by rainfall was reported on Sky Farm Avenue, but no homes were affected.

Separately, Long Lake Road and Chickasaw Road were reported closed today because of rising water from the rain and as the Mississippi River’s edging toward its predicted crest.

The river was at 41.2 feet this morning on the gauge at the river bridge, up .2 from Monday. The National Weather Service crest forecast remains Monday at 41.5 feet, which is 1.5 feet below the official flood stage.

Today’s forecast calls for partly cloudy skies with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. The prediction also called for partly cloudy skies Thursday and showers on Friday and Saturday.

Among wreck reports that were available, a Redwood woman injured on Highway 3 was admitted Monday morning for treatment at River Region Medical Center. Spokesman Diane Gawronski said Melissa Clark, 20, 9010 Mississippi 3, remained in the hospital this morning.

Also injured in a Monday one-vehicle wreck, Evadnie Wyatt, 62, of Route 1 Box 169 in Port Gibson, was hospitalized and in stable condition today, Gawronski said.

Johnnie Lee Knight, 18, of 1605 Greenhill, was in the same wreck and was treated and released, records show.

On Bovina Cutoff, a car ran into a tree that had fallen across the road, but the driver was not taken to the hospital.