Natchez — While Adams County sustained substantial damage, so did other surrounding counties, including Amite, Franklin, Jefferson and Wilkinson counties.

Wilkinson County

Wilkinson County suffered a large amount of damage, including structural, downed power lines and flooding.

Emergency Management Director for Wilkinson County Thomas Tolliver Jr., said the county is discovering more and more damage each day.

“We have damages that we, in some instances, were not aware of and we’re just now discovering,” he said.

Wednesday night’s heavy rain brought down more trees and caused more problems, Tolliver said.

He said 75 percent of the electricity as of Thursday afternoon was still out in Wilkinson County.

He said flooding was a major problem in some of the low-lying areas.

“One particular home had three or four feet of water in it,” he said.

He said in that same area approximately 17 homes had flood damage.

“Totally we have, as we’re seeing right now, about 30 homes or mobile homes that have been either categorized as destroyed, or major damage or minor damage,” he said.

Franklin County

Franklin County saw a lot of tornadic activity Wednesday, county Emergency Management Director Mark Thornton said.

There were four tornado sightings and one actual touchdown.

Thornton said Michael’s, a restaurant located at the intersection of U.S. 84 and Highway 98, had its front porch ripped off and its power torn down.

Flash flooding damage in Bude also occurred from the 14 to 15 inches of rain that was dumped on the county.

Thornton said a by-boat rescue mission took place to take people out of some trailers and houses in low-lying areas.

“I’m talking about a bass boat going down the streets in Bude,” he said.

Thornton said there was substantial structural damage, too. He said he’s received resident reports of between 15 and 20 homes that had roof damage.

Trees and power lines were knocked down by the dozens.

“Practically every road in the county was blocked at some time with trees,” he said.

The water wells were out of commission but as of Thursday, Thornton expected all to be back in working order.

As of 6 a.m. Thursday, all but 200 Franklin County customers had electricity restored.

“They have really done a great job at it,” Thornton said of the three electricity companies servicing the county.

He said the remaining customers without power are estimated to have it back up by Sunday at the latest.

MEMA teams are down in the area assessing the damage and Thornton said he expects it to be declared a disaster zone so they can receive federal assistance.

“If they do not declare Franklin County a disaster area, I will hit the ceiling,” Thornton said.

Amite County

Amite County reports several days of bad weather that caused roadway blockages, downed power lines and a lot of debris.

“We didn’t have a lot of structural damage,” Amite County Emergency Management Director Sam Walsh said.

He said damage assessment has already begun and power outages are being addressed.

“We’ve still got some power outages in the county, we’re not back up to 100 percent by any means,” Walsh said.

All in all, Walsh said the damage was not extensive, it was mostly just bad weather.

“(Hurricane) Katrina was bad but Katrina kind of kissed us and left,” Walsh said. “But Gustav hung around for a couple of days.”

Tornadic activity was no stranger to the county, either, with two official touchdowns that tore down several power lines that had just recently been put back up.

Flooding occurred, too, but mostly was on account of drainage problems.

Jefferson County

Jefferson County received mostly wind damage, Sheriff Peter Walker said.

“We have a couple of incidences where a tree fell on a vehicle and completely destroyed it,” Walker said.

He said no homes had been reported to him as being destroyed by the storm.

They experienced straight line winds, some back up of drainage systems and about 11 inches of rain overall.

The power to the county has been restored to about 90 percent, he said.

“We’re doing pretty good,” Walker said. “There are still some residents that are out and we’re doing what we can to accommodate them.”

He said distribution of ice and water to homes without power has already begun and will continue as long as necessary.