Storm displaces Oktibbeha County residents
OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Some residents in Starkville and Oktibbeha County spent much of Friday cleaning up and assessing damage after a severe thunderstorm blew through the area Thursday afternoon.
An apartment off Rockhill Road is now unlivable.
“I was at work (when it happened), but when I pulled up at five o’clock, I saw a bunch of fire trucks here, and then whenever I came down, I saw that we had a bunch of damage,” said Conner Wright, a resident of Ridge Lakes Apartments.
Wright was shocked when he returned home Thursday evening.
“It was one of those deals where you’re just glad that everybody was safe and nobody got hurt,” said Wright.
A severe thunderstorm struck Oktibbeha County on Thursday, leaving behind a trail of damage.
Ridge Lakes Apartments was one of the hardest hit areas.
Residents like Conner are now looking for a new place to call home.
“Me and my parents been riding around all morning trying to find a place to live, which is kind of scarce at the moment right now being last minute,” said Wright.
Oktibbeha County Fire Coordinator, Patrick Warner, and other first responders assessed the storm the damage Friday morning.
“We had multiple trees on houses; we had multiple roofs blown off and damaged. There were also multiple car wrecks on 82 due to the hail. The hail would come down and get on the road, steam up the road and you had very little visibility,” said Warner.
Warner said they started getting calls around 4 p.m. on Thursday.
Bulldog Towing also took a hard hit.
Stewart Teague, the owner, was surprised when he first saw the damage.
He said he is grateful his business is still standing.
“It was just a big mess, and you think ‘Wow, what happened?’. All of our big trucks were in here, and I’m just thinking that they’re probably going to be destroyed, but fortunately, they just had minor damage,” said Teague.
Some volunteers also assisted helping move residents Friday morning.
Most residents at Ridge Lakes were not home during the storm, but those who were took shelter the best way they could.
No injuries were reported.
