A weekend storm system moving up from the south dumped more than 4 inches of rain and hit Vicksburg and Warren County with high winds causing power outages across the county, affecting two schools and temporarily interrupting the county’s E911 radio system.

The system hit about 5:30 p.m. Saturday with heavy rain and a stiff breeze. Both conditions continued through early today, when windy conditions increased.

At about 7:40 a.m., Entergy customer service representative Shelia McKinnis said 5,294 people in Vicksburg and Warren County were without power.

Two city schools, Bowmar Elementary School and Vicksburg High School, were without power early this morning, although power was restored to Bowmar at 8:30 a.m. Assistant Superintendent of schools David Campbell said the school system planned to have a regular school day and were working to get children to school, adding city police and Warren County Sheriff’s deputies were helping with the effort.

Also affected was the Vicksburg Warren County E911 radio system, which temporarily went down early Monday. E911 director Chuck Tate said the problem occurred when a backup generator at the department’s repeater tower at Castle Hill failed to switch on immediately after power in that area went out.

According to gauges at the Vicksburg Water Treatment Plant on Haining Road, about 4.6 inches of rain fell in the area over a 48-hour period from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. today. National Weather Service wind gauges at Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport in Mound, Louisiana, reported wind speeds from Sunday through about 6:55 a.m. today ranging from between 18 to 28 mph with gusts as high as 41 mph.

“While we did not have a severe weather warning, we did have a high wind advisory and that accounted for the number of trees reported down across the county,” Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said.

The high winds knocked down trees and power lines, causing power outages across the county.

During the night, trees and power lines blocked Fisher Ferry at Nailor Road, Jeff Davis Road, LeTourneau Road, Hoxie Road off Gibson Road, Mount Alban Road, Tucker Road, Campbell Swamp Road, Shadow Wood Drive, a road in the Redwood area off U.S. 61 North and various other roads. Fisher Ferry Road was down to one lane in the 1100 block due to low hanging power lines.

In Vicksburg, a tree fell north of the Intersection of Halls Ferry Road and Division Street, forcing authorities to reroute traffic. City street department superintendent Skipper Whittington said the tree also took down utility lines and broke two utility poles.

Sheriff Martin Pace said as of 9 a.m., only a few roads were still blocked, including Tucker Road and Warriors Trail and Mount Alban near Scott.

Pace added U.S. 61 South at LeTourneau created the most traffic snarls with school busses and students going to school this morning.

Some property damage on the 500 block of Dana Road was reported after a tree fell on a parked car on private property, Pace said.

“We want to encourage everyone to drive with extreme caution because you don’t know if you’re going to be the first one to happen upon a down tree or limb in a road,” he said. “There might not always be traffic cones or someone there.”

Pace said he had been out patrolling since 10 p.m., and extra officers were called in at 5 a.m. this morning to give extra assistance during morning commute traffic.

“During the night we responded to 16 crashes and 42 weather related incidences such as trees down or lines down,” he said. “This was as of 9 a.m. No injuries have been reported.”

Entergy has informed some residents in Vicksburg that they will not have power until noon Tuesday.

 

Austin Vining also contributed to this report.