Lincoln and surrounding counties escaped much of the damage froma severe storm that moved through the state Thursday, officialssaid.

A tornado warning was issued a few minutes before 3 p.m. for thesouthwestern part of the county when Doppler radar indicated onemay be present and moving northeast toward Bogue Chitto. The townwas assailed with heavy rain and a power outage caused by downedlines, but no major damage was reported, said Lincoln County CivilDefense Director Clifford Galey.

“We were lucky. It could have been a whole lot worse,” he said.”The closer it got to us the more it broke up. We were really happyabout that.”

In fact, he said, other than sporadic downed trees and powerlines across the county, there was no major damage.

“All I know that we had was that incident on Highway 550,” Galeysaid.

Randy Sullivan, the co-owner of the General Store and Diner onHighway 550, said high winds curled the tin on his roof and rolledit forward, exposing about one-third of the interior to wind-drivenrain.

Sullivan said the damage was relatively minor, however, and heand co-owner Suzette Sullivan hoped to reopen the store by Mondayor Tuesday.

Short power outages caused by downed power lines were reportedin Ruth, West Lincoln and Bogue Chitto.

In Bogue Chitto, Highway 51 was blocked for a short time when alarge tree fell across it and dragged down power lines.

Lincoln County and Brookhaven schools had been closed early inthe afternoon Thursday in order to get students home prior to thestorm’s arrival. School reopened as normal this morning, officialssaid.

Some children’s day care centers also closed early in theafternoon.