MEMA releases initial damage assessment from severe weather

February 6, 2020

Due to the severe weather that impacted the state Wednesday, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) received damage reports from affected counties and continues to assist with response efforts.

At the time of this release, eight counties submitted damage reports to MEMA. Lauderdale County has not yet submitted a damage report; however, the county has 1,469 power outages, and Lauderdale County Schools are closed.

The following damage reports serve only as initial assessments from the county emergency management offices and can change as MEMA receives additional reports and assessments.

Initial damage reports by county (assessments ongoing):

Attala: Three homes damaged; three roads closed, 231 power outages
Clarke: 25 homes damaged, 15 roads closed, Enterprise K-12 School District is closed, 955 power outages
Holmes: One home damaged, 26 power outages
Jasper: Six homes damaged; two roads closed, 296 power outages
Leake: Three homes damaged
Marion: One home damaged
Simpson: Five homes damaged; one farm building damaged, 82 power outages
Yazoo: EF-1 tornado with max winds of 93 MPH, 18 homes damaged, 10 roads damaged, 64 power outages

Shelters:

Clarke County – Enterprise Baptist Church, 400 River Road in Enterprise

State Assets/Resources Deployed:

Clarke:

1,000 sandbags
50 tarps
10 cases of bottled water
One Disaster Reservist
One Area Coordinator
Law enforcement to help with damage assessments and traffic control
Two debris removal teams to assist with clearing trees from roadways

Lauderdale:

50 tarps
One Area Coordinator to assist with damage assessments

Jasper:

One Area Coordinator to assist with damage assessments

Yazoo:

50 tarps
One UAS drone and pilot to support damage assessments and situational awareness due to storm damage
One Area Coordinator to support county with Emergency Operations Center operations and with damage assessments

At the time of this release, there were 4,007 power outages statewide.

The National Weather Service sent out two storm survey teams to assess damages and to track potential tornadoes. One team is going to Attala, Holmes, and Yazoo counties while the second team is going to Clarke, Jasper, and Lauderdale counties. If they have time, the second team will also visit Smith and Simpson counties.