Summit looks at response to Winter Storm Fern
TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – It may be five months since Winter Storm Fern hit North Mississippi, but the memories are still fresh for Baldwyn Mayor Roslynn Clark.
‘We were down without power for about seven days, had churches and people providing food, warming shelters, had a few of those,” said Mayor Clark.
Throughout Mississippi, Winter Storm Fern caused power outages for more than 180,000 people. More than 170,000 were affected by public water system failures, and 29 storm-related deaths were reported.
Many of those who were involved in the response and recovery are part of a two-day summit called “From Recovery to Resilience.”
The summit is organized by the Mississippi Public Service Commission and looks at challenges faced by utilities, first responders, and others in the aftermath of winter storm Fern. It was also a chance to answer questions about infrastructure repair.
“A lot of it is education, people ask, why don’t you put power lines underground, you can do that, but your power bill is a formula, so everything goes into that formula dictates what your electricity will cost so the more you run power lines underground, the more expensive it is and the more it will cost you,” said Northern District Public Service Commissioner Chris Brown.
As CEO of the Mississippi Rural Water Association, Kirby Mayfield emphasized the importance of mutual aid, in times of crisis.
‘i was able to call Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida for more generators, it really works and it is protection for that utility and response,” Mayfield said.
The Summit will also look at those who went above and beyond during Winter Storm Fern, individuals, first responders, linemen and ministries, who helped their neighbors.
Eight Days of Hope Founder Steve Tybor was recognized for the disaster relief ministry’s quick response setting up feeding sites and clearing limbs, trees and debris from homes.
‘We did some things with this storm we never have done before, we are still learning, one of the things was with our mass feeding arm, we provided tens of thousands of meals, normally you set up at one place and people come to you, it wasn’t safe to drive down the road so we came up with creative ways of getting food into other church’s hands, the fire department so they could take it to shut ins. We helped 260 families clean up their yards, tarping roofs,” Tybor said.
The summit continues Wednesday at the Performing Arts Center at Tupelo High School.
