NATCHEZ &045; Lee Edward Scott took off for the holidays earlier than expected.

By 8 a.m. Wednesday morning the building that houses Scott’s business, Scott Construction at 84 East Franklin Street, had half a roof, a tree through the top floor and severe water damage on the bottom floor.

Scott, who lives next door to his business, said he awoke around 12:15 a.m. to the sound of lightning striking a large tree. The lightning severed a large limb sending it through the building and on top of a parked vehicle and power lines.

Scott’s neighbor Elizabeth Jones several houses down the road was watching weather reports on television when the tree fell and snapped multiple power poles down the street.

&uot;When I heard it I didn’t know what had happened,&uot; Jones said. &uot;I was in the dark praying. I had said I wasn’t afraid of tornadoes, but I am now. It was a real experience.&uot;

The high winds and lightning that struck East Franklin Street were part of several storm systems that produced seven watches and warnings in the county from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, said Tracy Floyd of Adams County Emergency Management.

Floyd said storm spotters reported seeing rotations in the sky, but no tornadoes every touched the ground.

The damage was caused by lightning, heavy rain and high winds, which topped out at 44 miles per hour.

Emergency management had reports of downed power lines and tree limbs at 19 different locations in the county and some residents were still without power Wednesday night.

On East Franklin Street crews hired by Entergy worked into the afternoon replacing power poles and removing tree limbs.

Scott stood outside his business most of the morning watching the crews work.

&uot;Hopefully we’ll be up and running again soon,&uot; he said. &uot;We know what to do. We do (construction) enough.&uot;

Governor Haley Barbour issued a state of emergency for Pontotoc, Washington, Lee, Leake, Simpson, Smith, Jasper, Winston and Harrison counties after the same storms that hit Adams County moved through those areas. Adams County was not included in the proclamation.