An investigator from the National Weather Service will visitCopiah County to inspect damage caused by early morning stormsThursday and to determine if a tornado touched down.

Copiah County Civil Defense Director Randall Drane said apossible weak tornado may have cut through portions of the countysoutheast of Hazlehurst as multiple thunderstorms passed throughthe state Wednesday night and before dawn Thursday. He describedlight damage to the area, with one home, a pair of businesses and ahandful of “other items messed up pretty bad.”

“From what I can tell, it may have started around James Road,crossed Monticello Road and on to Highway 472,” Drane said. “Thisisn’t confirmed yet, but (the investigator) is going to come andtell me if I’m right or not.”

No injuries were caused by the weather, Drane said, though itappears the entire county lost power sometime after midnight.

“Everyone from Wesson to Hazlehurst to Crystal Springs lostjuice, and east and west of Highway 51, so it was pretty muchcountywide,” he said. “There’s probably a few stragglers, but powerwas mostly restored by Thursday morning.”

Considering multiple thunderstorms headed east all night long,Copiah County was lucky, Drane said.

“It could have been a lot worse,” he said.

Storms passed to the south as well, but no damage was reported.Lawrence County officials had no reports Thursday morning, andLincoln County Civil Defense Director Clifford Galey said thestorms caused only sporadic power outages in the Brookhavenarea.

“We had some pretty good storms right before us and right afterus that prompted some warnings, but it didn’t drop the hammer on uswhen it came over,” he said.

Weather systems will continue to clash over the next 48 hours,Galey said, with the possibility for more severe weather Saturdaynight and into Sunday.