As of Tuesday, there were still many residents of Washington County who were without power. Others had only recently had powered restored.
Officials were still assessing the damage Tuesday, but gathered Monday afternoon to discuss plans.
Several agency representatives and city officials met at Greenville City Hall to be briefed by Emergency Management Director John Burford and to discuss updates regarding Friday night’s severe thunderstorm.
Reps from the Greenville Fire Department, Pafford, Washington County Sheriff Department , the office of Congressman Bennie Thompson, C-Spire, Suddenlink, the Community Foundation of Washington County, the Local Organizing Committee of Greenville, Lowe’s and others, along with city personnel, were all extended gratitude and appreciation from Mayor Errick Simmons on their efforts in aiding residents faced with major issues such as electrical outages and inaccessibility to transportation and other needs because of the storm.
As of Monday, there were still many residents who were without power.
One of the areas which sustained significant damage as a result of the storm was Delta Towers.
It was reported a transformer fire Saturday evening forced relocation of several residents to the Washington County Convention Center where the Red Cross and Department of Human Services are running a shelter.
“Hopefully, we can get them back in and have their power turned on by this afternoon,” Burford said on Monday.
Burford said to everyone in the council’s chambers, “If any of you all have any short falls in the resources you need or anything that you don’t have that you need, we need to know that so we can start reaching out and finding those.”
Burford also added he and his department would be taking steps to get activity reports as well as updates from Entergy customer service manager Gerald Husband to share with the various agencies.
One really big issue, Burford said, is on Highway 438 which will be closed for an indefinite amount of time.
“Twin county has some lines down across the highway, but out in the field, Entergy has some transmission lines down on top of those lines. Until the transmission lines are picked up, Twin County can’t pick their lines up off the highway, so it’s going to be be closed for a while,” he explained.
One agency rep asked, “Who picks up the trees if they’re not cut down by a tree contractor?”
“We have some people being paid to cut trees and they’re starting to pile up on the right-of-ways but they need to take them to the landfill,” Public Works Director Jermaine Thornton said.
Otherwise, residents and business owners can put debris on curb following the instructions of the city and county.
Citizens can report damage to their business or residential structure by visiting crisistrack.com/public/washingtonMS/request.html or by calling 662-335-1945, Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Those reporting damage will be asked to provide their name or business name, phone number and the type of damage received.
If there are citizens who need water, it is available at Greenville Fire Stations #1 Broadway and Central, #5 Alexander and Beauchamp and Metcalfe Town Hall but citizens must bring their own containers.
Citizens are also advised not to use generators indoors and to contact their power provider and let them know a generator is being run.
In addition, citizens are advised to stay away from downed trees and power lines and to treat power lines as if they are energized.
