Serving others

Recovery and cleanup operations were underway across Marshall County this week following severe weekend storms that brought straight-line winds and left pockets of extensive tree and structural damage in parts of the county.

Emergency management officials and disaster relief teams mobilized across the hardest-hit parts of the county, concentrating their initial efforts on the northwest sector.

“Mount Pleasant, Cayce areas, Red Banks had some, Victoria had some,” said Jason Motz, Marshall County emergency management director. “The east side of the county had a few pockets of things, but the heaviest damage was in the northwest part of the county.”

Motz noted that previous winter ice storms had already weakened local timber, making trees particularly vulnerable when straightline winds reached up to 80 mph. Dispatchers logged roughly 50 emergency calls during the height of the storm.

“Once we started getting reports in ... I knew that we were going to have quite a bit of, or potential to have, trees down, roads blocked, and some sort of either minor or major structural damage,” Motz said.

In the hardest-hit neighborhoods, residents experienced the sudden impact firsthand. Joey Campbell, a resident in the Minton Road area of rural Byhalia, described the storm rolling in without warning.

“The storm came through and just came out of nowhere,” Campbell said. “Just high winds and the trees just started plummeting down. ... It was not good at all for anybody. It was a very bad situation.”

One of the largest trees near Campbell’s location split, crashing down onto a truck and the home.

To assist impacted homeowners, the county coordinated with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and the American Red Cross. Disaster relief volunteers and equipment operators were dispatched to clear driveways, remove downed trees from structures, and place tarps over damaged roofs at no charge to residents, prioritizing elderly and homebound citizens.

John Henry, an equipment operator with the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board who traveled from Jackson to assist with heavy machinery, said crews mobilized as soon as emergency management identified the need.

“It’s kind of scattered,” Henry said of the damage. “It’s not widespread, but where it did hit down, then it’s pretty bad. ... We’re out here doing what we can to help our neighbors.”

Henry was joined in the field by local volunteers, including Tommy Griffith of Independence, Mississippi.

“We had a pretty good windstorm come through here and knocked some trees down,” Griffith said. “We’re just trying to get out here and help these people out, get them back to normal life.”

The American Red Cross also coordinated with county officials to establish a temporary emergency shelter following the storm and continued to assist homeowners who suffered structural damage.

Marshall County residents who still require storm-related assistance, or community members looking to volunteer or donate relief supplies, are encouraged to contact the Marshall County Emergency Operations Center at 662-333-1151.