Emergency services in Lauderdale and neighboring counties spent Monday picking up after the severe thunderstorms, flooding and high winds of the early morning hours. 

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for Lauderdale County, and its neighbors, around 3 a.m. Monday, lifting the flood watch and the accompanying tornado watch at 9 a.m. Other east central Mississippi counties affected included Clarke, Jasper, Kemper, Neshoba and Newton.

In Meridian, trees fell on power lines, disrupting power to many residents, and rain flooded some 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 while traveling 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 planned to reopen the road by Monday evening, according to its 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 around 10 a.m. 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 with just enough space for me to crawl out.”

The Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors agreed Monday that citizens who need cleanup from Sunday evening’s rainstorms may call county road crews at 601-482-9797.

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 to 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 fell across portions of the affected area overnight, resulting in flash flooding and high water rescues, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service forecast predicted Tuesday would be sunny with a high of 84, followed by a chance for thunderstorms Tuesday night into Wednesday. The forecast for the rest of the week is clear with highs hovering in the upper 60s. 

Randy Hammons contributed to this report.