STORM DAMAGE

Published 7:07 pm Friday, March 18, 2016

More than 3,000 people remained without power Friday evening as local officials and Entergy crews continued removing trees, clearing roads and restoring power.

“We have a total of 3,894 people in Warren and Claiborne counties, and most of the outages are in Warren County,” Entergy spokeswoman Shelia McKinnis said.

According to information on Entergy’s Storm Center Outage website map, most of the outages in the city and county were in an area east of Interstate 20 and south of Indiana Avenue, including areas along Halls Ferry Road, Porter’s Chapel Road, Fisher Ferry Road, Nailor Road and other roads running off them.

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Power also remained off on Warrenton Road, which had several trees go down during severe weather Thursday.

“We are doing our best to get everyone restored, but we may not be able to restore service to everyone today,” McKinnis said. “We have an additional 90 workers assisting with the restoration efforts in Vicksburg. If someone is in an area that received heavy damage, restoration may take longer.”

A series of severe thunderstorms hit the Vicksburg/Warren County area Thursday afternoon with heavy rain, pea-size hail and strong winds that blew down trees and damaged utility poles, causing power outages and blocked roads across the city and county and blowing some trees on homes in the city and county.

“Red Cross disaster assistance teams where here visiting people to see how they could provide help,” Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday afternoon. “We had four trees on homes on Warrenton Road, Oak Street and Halls Ferry Road, and a tree through a house on Great Street between South and Harrison streets.”

He said Vicksburg firefighters helped the family on Oak Street remove personal belongings from the home Friday morning.

Friday afternoon, city streets and county roads with the exception of Warrenton and Nailor roads, were open.

City Street Department superintendent Skipper Whittington said Warrenton Road remained closed from Rifle Range Road to Riverwalk Casino while Entergy crews restored power to that area.

“We had three large trees blocking that road,” he said.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said Nailor Road remained closed with a single tree blocking both lanes. He said efforts to clear the road were delayed until Entergy crews could reach the area to remove lines tangled in the tree.

“On the other roads, it’s a matter of cleaning up,” he said. “Crews were able to clear the road and moved the debris to the side of the road to get it opened as quick as possible.”

 

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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