Tornado recovery recap
Adam Stone, appointed April 1 as the Emergency Management Services/fire services coordinator for Marshall County, reported to the board of supervisors Monday, April 7, on damages and recovery efforts since the April 3 tornado that struck in the Slayden area.
He estimated there were 1,900 customers without power the first day and about 1,000 customers had power restored afterward.
There were 300 customers still without power Monday, April 7, he said.
The area is served by the Holly Springs Utility Department which had Southern Electric and DeSoto Electric as well as the HSUD working to restore electricity to the areas of Hogan Road, South Slayden Road, Deer Creek Road, Highway 311, and Hurdle Club Road in the Slayden/Highway 72 area.
“I can tell you how many houses were destroyed,” Stone said.
District 2 supervisor Johnny Walker reported on cleanup efforts.
“They are going down Hogan Road now and are about to get to Hurdle Club Road and plan to get on Highway 311 today,” he said.
“So we want our constituents to know you and our other administrators are doing everything we can,” said District 1 supervisor Charles Terry. “We’re on top of it.”
Stone recapped the events immediately after the tornado ripped through an 11-mile-long and two-mile-wide area.
He was called out after 1:30 a.m. Thursday as the tornado rolled through the area, the largest tornado in the county since the December 23, 2015, tornado that came through flattening homes, churches, and power lines, striking just south of the city of Holly Springs.
Seven fire departments participated in search and rescue from the time of the storm to before daylight, Stone said.
A temporary command center was set up at Slayden Service Center and then moved to Slayden Baptist Church. Hudsonville CME Church served as the American Red Cross disaster relief center.
The Mississippi Baptist Disaster Response Team set up at Bridgeway Baptist Church in Mt. Pleasant to begin cutting up debris and moving it to the edge of the roads.
Revive Church on Taska Road served as a donation center and meals center along with Slayden Baptist Church.
Stone said the state has not declared a state of emergency as of Monday. But the state may combine a number of areas in order to declare a state of emergency which would make counties affected eligible for MEMA funds.
Counties nearby that could be included in the request for a declaration of an emergency would be the separate disasters in Tate, Marshall, Tippah, Union (New Albany), Tishomingo, Alcorn and Pontotoc counties, Stone said.
A threshold of losses is required to trigger a state of emergency from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
County Administrator Tim Powell said the threshold is formula driven in order to get Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.
“MEMA is doing assessments now,” he said.
Stone said MEMA had finished its assessments by Sunday night, April 6.
There were 126 properties that received minor damage or were partially or totally destroyed, Stone said. Twentythree were destroyed and 16 sustained major damage as of the Sunday night count.
Stone said the recovery team, which included the fire departments, board of supervisors, the sheriff’s team, and Red Cross, all coordinated the effort and acted like a “fine, oiled machine” in the first three days of the recovery effort.
Slayden Baptist Church was receiving donated items in the beginning.
District 4 supervisor George Zinn III said his food pantry, Feeding Hungry Hearts, provided food and may set up a mobile pantry.
Citizens, the American Red cross and the Slayden ladies were the primary groups providing meals, Stone said. He said no clothing is being accepted.
H.W. Byers school was taking requests for uniforms for students.
“Communication is one of the primary things people look for, for someone to call,” Terry said.
Powell said the Sheriff’s Department had a non-emergency line taking calls.
Walker said so many calls come in at once that it was overwhelmed with calls.
Powell said an emergency must be declared by MEMA before it will set up a call line. He said a call center is not something a county can do.
Stone said he expected Red Cross to remain in the area through the week (April 7-11). It will end food service and shelter by the end of the week. That leaves Slayden Baptist to handle donated items, he said.
Terry said he is concerned for the need of people who just need to talk to someone and to ask when power will be restored.
Stone said the downside to restoring electricity is the manpower to get it done.
“People are stretched so thin,” he said.
“The main thing is power,” Walker said. “They want dumpsters to clean up. I don’t know what to tell them.”
“We got to take care of our people,” said District 5 supervisor Ronnie O’Neil Bennett.
“I’m the one to get it all, if we don’t get a disaster declaration,” Walker said. “I got equipment, but I can do nothing. Even though I want to help them, I can’t. The women are not leaving their house. I guess they are trying to protect what they have left.”
Powell said it is best to set the debris on the right-of-way for now because it is the amount of debris that is used by MEMA in deciding if the county can get disaster relief funds.
“I’m seeing one tree that can’t fit in a 30-yard dumpster,” he said.
Stone said he expected MEMA to do at least a windshield assessment Monday.
“We’re doing updates every day,” he said.
Terry said he thinks supervisors will be the primary contacts now to provide information to constituents.
Stone said the command center at Slayden Baptist Church will probably be open to the end of the week.
Stone said the county will play it by ear once the Red Cross has left.
Bennett praised TVA for getting it’s high voltage lines back up without interrupting the power supply to the area.
“It’s impressive, watching those guys,” Stone said. “They have not had to string any lines.”
“You are doing a tremendous job,” District 3 supervisor Terry Rodgers said to Stone.
Stone said he got lots of help from David Cook and Mark Kapley with the Sheriff’s office.