Bill drops in on Meridian

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
July 1, 2003
The center of Tropical Storm Bill visited Meridian about sunrise today and then moved rapidly out of the area to the northeast, along Interstate 59.
At the same time, Mississippi Power crews were working on restoring power to about 200 customers in Meridian.
Kurt Brautigam, spokesman for Mississippi Power, said about 2,500 outages were scattered throughout the Meridian area. He said almost all were related to wind damage.
Brautigam said crews worked through the night in Meridian, beginning about midnight.
About 20,000 customers lost power throughout the state about 11,000 of them were on the Coast where the tropical storm made landfall between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Brautigam said about 6,000 Mississippi Power customers lost power in the Hattiesburg and Laurel areas.
John Baxter, warning coordination officer with the National Weather Service's Meridian office, said the heaviest rain in the Meridian area between 5 and 6 inches fell in a line that ran along Highway 19 South from Bonita Lakes to Vimville.
Baxter said the July Fourth weekend will probably be a typical one for Lauderdale County, with a weak system in the forecast for Thursday.
He said as much as 10 inches to 11 inches of rain fell along a line from just south of Waynesboro to Mobile, Ala.