Vicksburg and Warren County residents are warned to prepare for severe weather as a system packing rain, winds and hail and the possibility of tornadoes prepares to make its way through the area late Tuesday morning.

“We’re lucky this is a day event,” Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said. “I’m still hoping the really bad weather will stay north of us.”

According to the National Weather Service Jackson Office, the severe weather was expected to hit the area about 11 a.m. as it moved east to Alabama, leaving about 5 p.m. The NWS website shows Vicksburg in the elevated threat area of its weather map, with the northern part of the county on the borderline between severe threat and elevated.