By ADAM ARMOUR

Staff Writer

A series of storms this past weekend resulted in numerous downed trees, several damaged properties but no injuries.

At least six properties were damaged during storms that moved through the Itawamba County area Friday night and Sunday morning, all the result of trees felled by strong winds.

Receiving the brunt of the damage were homes along Arrowhead Drive, north of Fulton, and Walker Church Road, near the Banner community. According to Itawamba County Sheriff Chris Dickinson, several homes in these areas were damaged by falling trees and various debris created by the storms.

Included among the damaged homes was 329 Arrowhead Drive, through which a pine tree fell early Sunday morning, destroying a large portion of the house. Although the owners, Matthew and Carisa Harris, were at home when the large pine tree toppled, no one was hurt.

According to Dickinson, deputies with the sheriff's department worked in conjunction with members of several Itawamba County volunteer fire departments to clear up debris on both Friday night and Sunday morning.

"We had a lot of extra deputies out working both nights to help clear these roads up," Dickinson said. "We got them cleared up pretty quickly both nights with the help of the fire departments. It was a total team effort."

The sheriff added those downed trees resulted in at least one reported vehicular accident on Friday night. Once again, no one was injured. Dickinson called the county fortunate.

"We really dodged a bullet," he said.

Employees with the Tombigbee Electric Power Association couldn't make a similar claim, as power outages across the area gave them a weekend full of grief.

"It was just a widespread area that was damaged by the storms," Tombigbee Electric Power Association Manager Barry Thrasher said, saying that the company fought outages from Marietta to Highway 25 South and the Alabama to Lee County lines.

Additionally, substations in both Fulton and Fairview suffered repeated outages, and there were numerous power lines downed by high winds, fallen trees and broken poles.

Two TEPA technicians suffered electric shocks as a result of lighting flashes during the storms, one of whom was sent to the North Mississippi Medical Center. Both men are reportedly uninjured.

"It was terrible ... not one of our better days," Thrasher joked.

Employees with the Fulton Telephone Company didn't have things much better. At one point, between 1,500 and 2,000 customers lost telephone service due to poles and lines downed by falling trees.

According to J.W. Beasley, an employee with the company, crews are still working to repair the numerous downed lines, although temporary fixes have allowed service to be returned to all customers.