Mississippi communities continue work towards tornado recovery

MISSISSIPPI (WCBI) – It’s been two and a half weeks since Mississippi was first battered by tornadoes.

Now, the real recovery is beginning.

Twisters brought devastation to the state on March 24, including in Winona and Amory.

Just a week later Tupelo and Pontotoc were hit.

Federal assistance is available to most who were impacted.

The Mississippi Emergency Management is playing a key role to make sure resources are in place to help the folks in those communities and in some cases get the town moving again.

The Magnolia State is no stranger to disasters and that’s why the agency said having a long-term recovery committee in place is critical.

Those groups organize volunteers and help create a vision for the community after the recovery ends.

“They’re from that local community, so it’s not MEMA coming in and telling anybody this is what you’re gonna do. That’s the community engagement from the locals that you cannot reproduce, and I can’t ring the bell enough that if you don’t have one, get one because there will be a day when that will come one of the most important organizations that any government agency will work with,” said Stephen McCraney, MEMA Executive Director.

MEMA said more debris is being moved from impacted communities and contractors are doing most of that work.

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