The National Weather Service lifted its flood watch for Lauderdale and neighboring counties Monday, Monday but not before downed trees and power lines and flash flooding caused problems..

East central Mississippi counties affected include Clarke, Jasper, Kemper, Lauderdale, Neshoba and Newton. 

In Meridian, trees fell on power lines, disrupting power to many residents, and rain flooded the streets. 

Jason Collier, the Meridian Fire Marshall, reported a fallen tree on one home and said the Meridian Fire Department had to rescue a driver whose car flooded on Highway 11 and 80. 

The Mississippi Department of Transportation reported that US 80 between Hawkins Crossing Road and Jimmy Rodgers Parkway was closed in both directions due to flooding. MDOT hoped to reopen the road around 4 p.m. Monday, according to their website. 

An MDOT worker at the scene said the woman’s car rescue happened at the dip on US 80, just in front of HD Machines, LLC. A nearby train appeared to be stalled on the tracks because of flooding as well. 

The Meridian Fire Department also rescued a woman trapped in the Raymond P. Davis County Annex building elevator. A power surge temporarily stalled the elevator, trapping Lisa Akin for 8-10 minutes around the 3rd floor. 

“I’m grateful they came and got me,” Akin said, “The firefighters got the ladder out with just enough space for me to crawl out.”

The East Mississippi Electric Power Association, at the height of the storm, had roughly 3,000 members without power. As of 8 a.m. that number decreased to about 850. Julie Boles, EMEPA director of marketing and communication, said they expected all residences to have power restored by mid-morning.

Mississippi Power reported 450 customers without power in Lauderdale around 8:30, down from the 650 homes without power around 3 a.m.

Jeff Shepard, Mississippi Power spokesperson, warned residents to stay away from downed power lines and always assume the line is “live” and dangerous.

“We’ve got crews out responding to outages as quickly and safely as they can,” Shepard said. 

Most officials in surrounding counties reported downed trees and power lines with flooding. In Neshoba County, flooding had washed out some county roads and made other roads impassable. 

Neshoba County Sheriff Tommy Waddell said Neshoba had one weather-related injury. A fallen tree limb struck a school bus driver through the windshield, hospitalizing him with non-life threatening injuries.

Rainfall amounts ranging from 4 to 8 inches have fallen across portions of the affected area overnight, resulting in flash flooding and high water rescues, according to the National Weather Service.

The flooding of roads, low lying areas, and areas with poor drainage will be possible, according to the weather service.

The chance of rain is expected to taper through the day, but continue to fall through the evening.

Severe thunderstorms struck around the state overnight.

Because of the storm, Meridian schools and Lauderdale County schools have delayed their starting times on Monday.

Dave Bohrer contributed to this report.