With flood waters continuing to affect Washington County, David Burford, Washington County Director of Emergency Management, asked the Board of Supervisors at the April 1 meeting to extend an emergency proclamation that was approved in February.
“We will likely have damage at the park and roads up on Lake Ferguson,” Burford said. “There are a lot of unknowns at this point and we won’t know until the water gets down and we can get in there what the extent of the damage is.”
Burford’s recommendation to extend the proclamation for 30 days was approved unanimously by supervisors.
Insuring Washington County is adequately prepared for a disaster was also a topic he spoke about to supervisors.
“The EOC generator at is starting to have trouble and the voltage won’t stay regulated,” Burford said, noting the 30 year-old piece of equipment serves an essential function.
“The tech came to work on it, but can’t get parts for it because it is outdated,” Burford said. “The fact that that building is integral to county operations, it is imperative to have that building fully operational. We need to get the bid process started on the generator.”
Burford expects replacing the generator to cost approximately $175,000, which is not included in the OEM budget.
Supervisors Lee Gordon, who serves on the equipment committee, said finding a solution is important.
“We have to make that happen regardless,” Gordon said. “We will have to get bids at that price, since we can’t get it through an emergency purchase or on state contract it must be put out for bid.”
Washington County Supervisors signed a local emergency proclamation on Feb. 20 for the Mississippi River flood and March 4 the board signed another proclamation of local emergency for flash flooding, as well as a resolution requesting the governor proclaim a state of emergency for Washington County.
Burford said the proclamations and resolution are necessary.
“This is just part of the task to begin the request for FEMA assistance,” Burford said. “Currently, we do not have the numbers of damaged private properties to request FEMA Individual Assistance, but I feel we will have enough damage to roads and possibly bridges to request FEMA Public Assistance.”
Burford said Washington County must meet a threshold of approximately $275,000 and the state must meet a threshold of approximately $ 4,000,000 to get federal assistance.
“Hopefully the water will go down, but we have several cracked roads in the county and city and sewer pumps with issues and that are down,” Burford said. “The reason for going forward with the resolution and proclamation is when the water goes down we can get help from the state doing assessments for roads.”
Burford said there are 21 roads in northern half of the county and even more in the southern half.
“We can do the assessments ourselves, but the assistance from the state for the assessment would be a great help.”
Congressman Bennie Thompson was at the March 4 supervisors’ meeting and shared his concern for the area.
“I’m not certain what the solution is – with dealing with water and things in the area,” Thompson said, noting he hopes to continue the conversation when supervisors travel to Washington for meetings.
“MEMA (Mississippi Emergency Management Agency) said we can expect more water. All the rain and melting snow – it has to come down stream,” Thompson continued. “On my way up here this morning I saw the results of what has happened.”
Thompson said supervisors and local leaders are the first to know of issues, which can be used to develop solutions.
“You all get the calls first. I assure you, if our office can be helpful, we will do so,” he said, noting his office sends information to the county when grants, programs and other opportunities are available.
“If you don’t [go after these grants] someone else will get your money,” Thompson said. “You all have a lot of needs, and you need to apply for it. If you don’t, it is to the benefit of those counties that do.”
Thompson said funds are available for storm shelters and programs.
“We don’t have a storm shelter in Delta,” Thompson said. “The closest one in is Grenada. If anything happens like a hurricane or tornado, you do have the convention center.
“But there is a program for a $3 million building program,” he continued. “It is there for in the event of a disaster. When it is not a disaster it doubles as a emergency management offices, a feeding place, and senior centers or whatever you need. Then when there is an emergency, it is used for that.”
Thompson said having a dedicated emergency facility is important because of the frequency of disasters.
“We have an emergency every two or three years,” he said, noting the grant requires a 10 percent match. Thompson said the 10 percent can come from “soft” contributions, such as owning the land, or using county equipment.
“This would be beneficial over and above the convention center,” he said.
Burford has recently sought participation from municipalities, schools and other key players for an earthquake preparedness exercise in conjunction with Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, MEMA, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA.
The exercise, named Shaken Fury, aims to evaluate and improve the community’s ability to establish and implement a coordinated strategy of rapid response and recover operations.
The hypothetical scenario involves an earthquake incident much like the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that occurred Jan. 29, 2019 along the Cottonwood Grove Fault near Memphis Tennessee.
While Washington County does not reside on the fault, the effects of such a quake in other areas could be devastating to the area, Burford said.
Agencies are requesting organizations and businesses that would be involved in a response to such a hypothetical event participate in the preparedness exercise.
Those organizations include hospitals, assisted living facilities, schools and those involved with infrastructure, communications, housing and others.
In the coming weeks, community leaders will work to establish enhanced information sharing practices across the community to improve preparedness, response and mitigation in the event of a catastrophe.
On May 29, the exercise will begin with the mock event, using the same weather and conditions present on Jan. 29.
Organizers will focus on airfield assessments, prison security, nursing home and hospital evaluations and points of distribution for resources such as food and water.
The statewide Shaken Fury exercise is part of a larger national exercise, Ardent Sentry, which aims to prepare for a catastrophic event.
