From staff reports

Vicksburg largely escaped damage this morning during a flash of heavy rain, some hail and strong winds.

Separate wrecks did occur, one on Interstate 20 that sent three people to the hospital and a second involving a Vicksburg Warren School District bus, but not injuring any students.

Clora Brown of 319 A Cindy Road, her 8-year-old son and Roy A. McGalliard of North Carolina were taken to River Region Medical center after the Jeep Cherokee driven by Brown hit the GMC Sierra driven by McGalliard.

Police officer Bobby Jones said Brown was coming off Clay Street onto the westbound lane of I-20 around 7:26 when the vehicle slid across the roadway, struck the bridge and spun into the Sierra.

Vicksburg Warren School District officials said this morning that a car tapped the back of a school bus carrying three children around 7:20 at Newit Vick Road near Oak Ridge Road. Officials described the wreck as “minor.”

The spring storm followed an apparently unrelated loss of electrical service for more than three hours Tuesday evening. A fallen tree caused Entergy customers in central and east Vicksburg to lose power, spokesman Don Arnold said. Knocked out were 3,000 customers served by a substation on Porters Chapel Road.

The manager on duty at McAlister’s Deli, 4200 Clay St., Tuesday night, Derrick Parker, said power went out at the restaurant about 4:30 p.m. and came back on about 7:30 p.m.

“It hurt our business,” Parker said.

During the three hours the power was out Parker had staff greet customers before they exited their vehicles in the parking lot to let them know as soon as possible that the restaurant was temporarily closed. During that time, “at least 50 cars” of would-be customers drove into the lot.

“I had to pay six people for three hours of no work,” Parker said. “Throughout the week we can make it up, but it did put a dent in our sales projections for the week.”

And at least one hotel was also affected by the outage. The manager of the Beechwood Inn, 4449 E. Clay St., said six or seven customers who had already checked in asked for and were given refunds and left to find other places to stay.

“It’s guaranteed if service is not restored” within a certain amount of time, Peter Patel said.

Night classes at Hinds Community College Vicksburg Campus were canceled because of the power outage.

Arnold said transmission lines have a 100-foot right of way, so the tree was quite large to have been able to fall on the lines.

The tree was near a creek and its roots washed out, causing it to fall, he said.

Some also lost power this morning, Arnold said, affecting 300 customers at the storm’s peak.

Less than an inch of rain fell here before the lines of storms moved away.

Damage was reported in the Brandon area. A dispatcher with the Brandon Police Department said his office was receiving numerous calls about potential damage, but he had no specific details concerning injuries.

There were reports of a possible tornado touchdown on Shiloh Road, in an area near the city park, in east Brandon

The National Weather Service has not confirmed a tornado although warnings were issued in the area.

A tornado watch was also in effect for Madison and Attala counties this morning.

Damage was reported to mobile homes and other structures in rural areas of the county, including along Monterey Road southwest of Brandon and near the new Brandon High School on Mississippi 18.

There appeared to be extensive tree damage in the county.

There were also reports of flooding due to heavy rains.

Storm watches and warnings were posted for numerous central and southern counties.

Severe thunderstorms were reported elsewhere, including Yazoo and Madison counties.