Warren County avoids heavy damage as Delta moves on

Published 1:32 pm Saturday, October 10, 2020

Warren County managed to avoid a major disaster as Hurricane Delta passed.

John Moore, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Jackson, said Delta hit Warren County with 46 mph winds and dumped nearly three inches of rain as the storm’s s eye passed between Monroe and Delta, La., as it moved northeast.

“We got lucky with this one,” Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said.

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He said several trees were blown down during the storm but were cleared from the roads and there were sporadic power outages. A tree fell on the home of Geoff and Jessica Henderson on Woodstock Road.

“There was no major damage,” Elfer said. “The people took our advice and stayed inside and no one was injured.”

Since about 8 p.m. Friday, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said, deputies answered 25 weather-related service calls outside the city limits.

“Perhaps the longest time a road was blocked was Jeff Davis Road, where a large tree fell across the road with power lines,” he said. “It was cleared by daylight. Redbone Road was closed with a tree blocking the road and there was a tree down on Fisher Ferry Road at Lake Boulevard.”

Vicksburg Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman said the city had some trees across streets and some minor mudslides.

“It’s not serious,” he said. “We’re all good.”

Entergy customer service representative Shelia McKinnis said as of Saturday morning more than 4,800 customers in Warren County were without power. She said the outages were scattered across the county with most of the problems south of Vicksburg — the largest affecting 844 people in the Naylor Road.

An additional 368 people were without power in the Wisconsin Avenue area and others on Halls Ferry Road and the Flowers area in the county. She said crews were out assessing the damage and once the assessment reports were in, crews would be dispatched.

McKinnis said officials hoped to have power restored by Sunday with some areas possibly not being restored until Monday.

A spokesman for Vicksburg Video’s Technical Services Division said the company received widespread reports of Internet problems in the wake of the storm and officials were working to correct the problem.

Delta’s winds began hitting Warren County at about 11 p.m. Friday and continued until about 3:30 a.m.

“It seemed like about 35 to 40 mph,” Elfer said. “You could hear the wind; there was not a lot of rain.”

Pace said he had triple shifts working the storm, and most of the service calls came between 2 to 4 a.m. Saturday when the wind gusts picked up and began blowing and scattering garbage cans, lawn furniture and other loose items.

“It was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be,” said North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield, who is over public works. “We had some trees in the roadway and some scraped houses and cars.”

Mayfield, who was out during the storm, said the wind gusts were strong.

“There were times you had to hold on to your hat. It got pretty rough there for a minute,” Mayfield said. “I was mostly concerned about the rain, and we dodged that. We dodged a cannonball. The Lord blessed us again.”

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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