Bobbie Johnston walks around a 100-year-old oak tree that was uprooted next to her house on U.S. 80 during Sunday’s storm.(Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[6/29/04]Crews continued working this morning to clear debris and fallen trees across Warren County as forecasters predicted more severe weather tonight.

A powerful burst of wind ahead of a thunderstorm about 2 p.m. Sunday caused the widespread damage, snapping some trees in half and bowling over others whose roots couldn’t hold in rain-soaked soil.

About half of Entergy’s 27,000 customers lost service and thousands spent Sunday night without electricity. By Monday night, all but a handful of Entergy customers were back online, according to spokesman Cheryl Comans.

Electricity, cable TV and phone crews flooded into town and worked through the day Monday. Today, only about 100 homes were left and they will require service by electricians before power can be reconnected, Comans said.

In compiling an inventory, damage was reported at about 50 residences across the county ranging from minor to large holes in roofs, said L.W. “Bump” Callaway, director of Warren County Emergency Management. The largest damage was to the roof of Warren Central High School. Initial estimates were that repairing the roof and replacing the gym floor beneath it could cost $1 million.

Callaway said the month’s heavy rains left the ground saturated and weakened tree root systems. He said some trees, left leaning, were still falling.

“I think we lost some more trees (Monday) because of gravity and we’re going to continue to do that,” Callaway said.

The Vicksburg Chapter of the American Red Cross provided meals Monday evening and this morning to residents along U.S. 80, Warriors Trail and Mount Alban Road, the hardest-hit areas in the county, said Beverly Conerly, director of the local chapter.

Mount Alban Road resident Lawrence Spratley, 92, said he felt lucky to be sitting in his living room when the storm swept through, knocking down trees in his yard and sending a branch through his roof and into the center of his bed.

“I’m glad it happened in the daytime, because if this had happened at night I would have been in that bed,” said Spratley.

Relatives and neighbors gathered at Spratley’s home Monday to help clean up the fallen trees that covered his driveway and blocked the view of the house from the road.

Spratley, who retired from Anderson-Tully after 30 years, said all he heard was the snap of a tree branch and it was all over.

“Everything was down like this when I walked to the door,” he said.

Bobbie Johnston, 3300 U.S. 80, said she didn’t hear anything and didn’t at first realize that a 100-year-old oak tree next to her home had fallen.

“I was in the living room and didn’t realize anything had happened,” Johnston said.

Branches from another tree landed on the back of Johnston’s car, causing minor damage and another tree fell on the roof of her home, causing leaks. The bigger tree fell away from her home without causing any damage, but did block the driveway to Susie Stauts’ home next door.

Stauts said she and her family were boating on the Mississippi River when the weather got bad, but got off the water before the brunt of the storm.

“It got a little crazy,” Stauts said.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Jackson are calling for a 70 percent chance of thunderstorms this evening with strong winds, lightning and heavy rain likely.

Although scattered showers fell late Monday, no rain was officially recorded in Vicksburg Monday. That left the June total at 11 inches, well above the previous record of 9.96 inches recorded in 1909. Normal rainfall for June is about 3 inches.