Martha Powell said she started praying Sunday night when golf-ball size hail began breaking windows at her home off U.S. 80.

“I pray all the time, but I prayed more today – in that few minutes,” Powell said Sunday night at her mobile home at 309 Cooper Drive. “I promise you – I never saw hail that big coming from the sky.”

Powell is one of hundreds of residents and drivers, mostly in Northeast Vicksburg and Northeast Warren County, who reported damage.

The National Weather Service said the severe weather was in two cells moving through the county. The first was about 5:45 and the second just over an hour later. Up to .8 inch of rain fell near downtown.

The storms were the advance guard of a cold front that closed a sunny and mild day by slicing a 78-degree reading at 4 p.m. to 51 degrees by 8.

Funnel clouds were spotted, but there were apparently no touchdowns. Lightning was intense.

Entergy spokesman Don Arnold said about 900 customers lost electricity, but most power had been restored by this morning.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said he was on a motorcycle on Interstate 20 when hit with hail “the size of ice cubes” that covered the interstate and median, broke out windshields and left a knot on his forearm.

“It started hailing before it even rained. We were being beat to death by it,” he said.

Two Warren County Sheriff’s Department patrol cars were damaged, Pace added.

Hail as big as baseballs was reported two miles north of the city, National Weather Service meteorologist Lora Wilson said, but most of the calls reported hail about an inch in diameter.

“We had reports from all over Warren County called in by the public,” she said.

Lonnie Boyd of Vicksburg was traveling on U.S. 61 South when the first storm hit. He said golf-ball size hail damaged the hood of his 2002 Jeep Wrangler. He pulled off at a gas station on U.S. 61 North to count the dents.

“I’ve seen hail like this, but it hasn’t ever damaged my car,” he said.

Insurance agencies across the area were reporting numerous calls from policyholders with damage. One reported about 200 calls this morning.

“We’ve had several calls from people who had their windshields broken – that’s pretty serious. Hail will beat your car up, but when it breaks windshields – it’s serious,” said Rick Smith, agent manager at Farm Bureau Insurance on Grove Street.

Don Parham was on I-20 in Vicksburg, returning home to Greenwood from Shreveport. Weather warnings helped him. “I heard about (the storm) on the radio,” he said. “I slowed down to about 60 to avoid it.”

Officials in Claiborne, Sharkey and Issaquena County said they had no reports of hail damage. Madison Parish had some golf-ball size hail, but no damage was reported.

Across Mississippi, the weather service reported trees and power lines in Smith County, 1 1/2-inch hailstones in Hinds and Madison counties.

There were no injuries reported.

In Vicksburg, Powell, who protected herself and her home by covering broken windows with a blanket, said she would keep proof of the storm. She put a bag of hail in her freezer.