A north Lincoln County road was closed Thursday morning aftereight utility poles were knocked down during a storm that passedthrough the area.

“It’s going to be closed a while,” said Lincoln County CivilDefense Director Clifford Galey as he surveyed the scene on OldHighway 51.

Entergy was moving crews into place to restore the utility polesand lines that fell along the road near the Sawmill Laneintersection. Approximately 1,500 customers were without power,said Kenny Goza, Entergy customer account manager.

“We’re trying to assess the damage,” Goza said around 9 a.m.Thursday.

Lincoln County sheriff’s deputies were detouring motorists awayfrom the area.

Harvey Parrish, a tree-cutting company employee, said he was inhis truck at the Sawmill Lane intersection when lighting struck oneof the poles.

“They started falling one after the other after that first onefell,” said Parrish, describing the sight as a “ball of fire”moving along the downed lines. “It was something to see.”

A dispatcher at the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department reportedthat office was operating on emergency generators at about 9:30a.m. because of widespread power outages in the Brookhavenarea.

Aaron Achord, engineering and operations manager for MagnoliaElectric Power Association, also reported outages due to theweather.

“Right now, we’re scattered from one end of our service area tothe other,” Achord said.

Achord said five outages between Highway 27 and the west side ofSummit had affected about 200 people.

“I expect those to be restored in about an hour,” Achord saidabout 10 a.m. “But as the storm intensifies, we are expecting thepossibility of more outages.”

Storms moving through Lincoln County kept emergency responseofficials busy Thursday.

Galey said the county remained under a tornado watch until noonand a flash flood watch until Thursday evening. The county wasunder a tornado warning around 8 a.m. after a funnel cloud wasreported eight to 10 miles northwest of Brookhaven.

“I’ve heard of no confirmed sighting, but it showed up onDoppler radar,” Galey said.

On Highway 550, four vehicles had hydroplaned off the road nearLoyd Star, said Sgt. Rod Crawford of the Mississippi HighwayPatrol. There were no injuries.

Galey said he had no reports of storm-related injuries Thursdaymorning. He advised caution as more bad weather was expected laterin the day.

“Everybody needs to watch the weather and be careful,” Galeysaid.

Robert Patterson, director of the Lawrence County Civil Defense,said that although Lawrence County is also under the weatherwatches, there had not been a lot of activity or damage so far.

“I haven’t heard of anything yet,” he said. “I don’t think it’sbeen that bad here.”

In other activity, a Roxie man was killed in a Wednesday nightaccident in Franklin County, authorities said.

James E. Watts, 52, was killed Wednesday around 9:30 p.m. onHighway 33 about 11.5 miles south of Roxie when his 2004 Chevroletpickup left the road.

“Watts was traveling northbound when he lost control,” Crawfordsaid. “His truck left the roadway and overturned.”

Watts, who was not wearing a seat belt, was partially ejected,Crawford said. He was pronounced dead at the scene by FranklinCounty Coroner Percy Peeler.

Troopers have not determined a cause for the accident, he said.It seems likely, however, that rain may have played a role.

“We can assume the road conditions were slippery,” but theinvestigating trooper has not yet ruled rain as the cause of theaccident, Crawford said.

DAILY LEADER Staff Writer Scott Tynes contributed to thisreport.