Thousands of Mississippi residents are waking up Saturday without power after thunderstorms producing damaging wind gusts passed through the state overnight.
As of 9 a.m., approximately 16,728 customers are without power, according to PowerOutage.US. The power outages include are spread throughout parts of central and southern Mississippi.
Entergy s power outage map showed 5,445 homes and businesses are without power Saturday morning. Southern Pine Electric reported 55 power outages Saturday and Mississippi Power reported 260 customers without power.
Meteorologist Logan Poole with the National Weather Service s Jackson office said there are reports of downed trees and power lines in Jefferson Davis and Rankin counties. Poole also mentioned reports of small hail in southwestern parts of the state.
Rain is in the forecast for most of Mississippi Friday night into Saturday morning, with flash flooding and possible strong storms cropping up, according to the National Weather Service. We do feel very confident that we will have showers and storms overnight, meteorologist Logan Poole with the National Weather Service s Jackson Office said Friday. So most places are going to see significant rainfall. Some places may even see 2 to 4 inches as the heaviest stuff moves through late tonight.
Poole said areas along and south of the I-20 corridor will most likely see the heaviest rainfall, increasing chances for flash flooding.
7:30 p.m.: Numerous reports of tree damage across Mississippi
Emergency management directors across the state have reported high levels of tree damage as high winds and tornadoes swept across Mississippi Wednesday.
Wind gusts higher than 58 miles per hour were recorded at the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport Wednesday evening. The storm system, which has spawned at least three tornadoes over the past 24 hours, have downed trees along several state highways. A tree also fell on a house in Cameron, according to a report from the Madison County Emergency Management Agency, but no one was injured.
Severe weather is expected to continue through the night and into early Thursday morning, officials at the National Weather Service in Jackson said Wednesday afternoon. At least 20 counties remain under a tornado watch until 3 a.m. Thursday.