Lightning struck the Warren County home of Vicksburg Senior Center director Jennifer Harper and her husband, Jim, early this morning, igniting a fire that caused significant damage but no injuries.

The home, at 217 Fairways Drive, sustained heat, smoke and water damage throughout but might not be a total loss, said Culkin Volunteer Fire Department chief Jerry Briggs.

“When we got there, the whole attic and roof of the two-story home was on fire,” he said. “The upstairs is a total loss, along with a bedroom and bathroom downstairs.”

The call came at 1:17 a.m., and crews from the Culkin, Bovina and Fisher Ferry volunteer departments responded, with about 20 firemen battling the blaze for two hours, Briggs said. Some remained on the scene until about 5 a.m. putting out flare-ups and hot spots.

Lightning has not been confirmed as the cause, Briggs said, but the Harpers told firefighters a strike hit the home. Their sons, Jay, 19, and Ben, 16, and two of Jay’s friends were also in the home, they said. All escaped unharmed.

“We were definitely getting a lot of lightning at that hour,” Briggs said.

Two fronts moved through Vicksburg and Warren County this morning, one beginning around 1 a.m. with wind gusts topping 42 mph. More than an inch of rain was recorded at the city’s Halls Ferry Park weather station.

The second front moved into the area just after 5:30 a.m. Winds hit 35 mph but less than a third of an inch of rain fell.

The storms caused more tree and limb damage, adding to those sustained throughout the county Tuesday.

About 2,700 Entergy customers were without electricity this morning, said spokesman Don Arnold. Of those, about 300 had been without power since Tuesday’s storm. Most were in south Warren County, he said.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said 14 reports of fallen trees were taken during the night and into the morning, including on Dogwood Lake Drive, Howe Lane, Villanova Road, Jeff Davis Road, Grange Hall Road, Gibson Road and Blake Drive.

At least two homes were damaged by trees and limbs in the Eagle Lake area, he said. The roof of a barn on Mississippi 465 was also reported damaged.

A tree had fallen across part of Falk Steel Road, blocking traffic this morning, and at Lee Road and Indiana Avenue, a cruiser driven by deputy Billy Brown, who had stopped to check on a tree that had fallen near the intersection, was hit from behind by another vehicle around 5:30 a.m., Pace said.

No one was injured, but the cars had minor damage, said the sheriff.

Power outages included a strip along North Frontage Road between Halls Ferry and Indiana Avenue, sections of Pemberton Square Boulevard and most of Wisconsin Avenue. The traffic light at U.S. 61 North and Oak Ridge Road was not operating. Also, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District office on East Clay Street was without power, and the facility was working off generators this morning.

Across the state and region, the second night of severe weather left at least three dead in Mississippi, including a police officer who died shielding his daughter during a camping trip.

Officials in Choctaw County said the officer, from Louisiana, and his daughter were in a tent at a state park. The man covered his daughter with his body to protect her and a tree limb hit him on the head, killing him. The daughter was not hurt.

Also in Mississippi, a man was crushed in his mobile home when a tree fell, and a truck driver was killed after hitting a downed tree.

The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management confirmed early Wednesday that one person died in a storm in Sharp County.

The latest round of severe weather Tuesday night and early today came a day after a series of powerful storms killed 10 people in Arkansas and one in Mississippi.

Emergency management officials in Alabama said two suspected tornadoes touched down in Marshall County, about 70 miles northeast of Birmingham, causing widespread injuries and damage.

“There are people trapped in mobile homes, in vehicles. We’ve got trees down all over, power lines down all over. It’s all over the county,” said Phil Mayer, working in the county emergency management office.

The weather service didn’t immediately confirm twister damage, but forecasters had issued several tornado warnings and said winds blew as hard as 70 mph, just short of hurricane force.

High winds also damaged a hangar at the Birmingham airport.

Because of the widespread storms, Arnold said Entergy has resorted to contact work crews to assess damages and repair poles and lines.

“This storm is so wide, you have outages all over,” he said. “Usually we bring crews in from the Delta, Natchez, Jackson or Clinton, but they are dealing with outages of their own.”

Continued thunderstorms were forecast for today, with temperatures reaching about 85 and dipping to the 50s overnight.

A wind advisory is in effect through 7 p.m. tonight, with sustained southerly winds near 25 mph and gusts up to 40 mph that can bring down trees and large limbs.

Thursday will be clear and cooler, with temperatures in the mid-70s during the day dropping into the 40s overnight.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.