Danny Cole, left, Dwayne Griffin, center, and Jacquelyn Griffin look at a giant oak tree felled Thursday on Beresford Street by high winds from Tropical Storm Isidore. (The Vicksburg Post/C. Todd Sherman)

[09/27/02]Downed power lines, falling trees, wrecks and overflowing ditches Thursday kept Warren County and Vicksburg emergency workers and Entergy officials busy most of the day.

This morning, three roads remained closed locally as crews continued the cleanup. The National Weather Service in Jackson was forecasting clear skies for the weekend, but more rain was expected next week with a chance of showers and thunderstorms starting Monday.

“It looks like the situation is under control this morning,” said L.W. “Bump” Callaway, director of Emergency Management.

The center of Tropical Storm Isidore passed near Jackson around 2 p.m. Thursday brining hard winds and heavy rain to Vicksburg and the surrounding area. The National Weather Service said that is when Isidore weakened to a tropical depression.

Between 7 a.m. Thursday and 7 this morning, the gauge at the Vicksburg Water Treatment Plant recorded 3.78 inches of rain.

As of this morning, Dogwood Lake Road in Bovina remained closed to through traffic and Wells Road off U.S. 61 North was down to one lane of traffic due to erosion problems from the rain, said Warren County Road Manager Rhea Fuller. Several other county roads including Paxton, Funches and Bovina Cut-off roads had to be closed temporarily Thursday due to flash flooding.

Fuller said crews would begin repairing roads next week, but were continuing to clean up downed trees and limbs today.

“We had literally hundreds of trees down all over the county,” Fuller said.

Cleveland Street in Vicksburg was also still closed this morning after a fallen tree pulled a power line across the street, said James “Bubba” Rainer, head of the city’s public works department. Rainer said at least 18 city roads were partially closed Thursday due to trees and flooding including North Washington Street where heavy rains caused a mudslide.

Entergy spokesman George Cooper said the fallen trees caused power outages all over the area including around 1 p.m. when about 1,900 customers inside Vicksburg lost power. Warren County E-911 logged 22 calls Thursday for downed power lines.

Warren County Sheriff’s Department responded to 12 wrecks Thursday including four with injuries. The Vicksburg Police Department reported 11 wrecks inside the city sending people to the hospital from three of those.

The Big Black River at Bovina also surged to three feet above flood stage this morning, but was not affecting any homes or inhabited structures, Callaway said.