Winston County requesting close to $80K in Major Disaster Declaration to cover cost of February winter storms

LOUISVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – While most of the damage done by February’s ice storm has been cleaned up in Winston County, the sheer cost of that cleanup is still taking its toll.

“When things are not budgeted into our budget, it hurts us,” said Winston County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Keith Alexander. “If we do get refunded from the state…it’d be a great need. We need that money back.”

That’s why they are joining with 30 other counties (including Choctaw and Noxubee) and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in requesting a Major Disaster Declaration for Public Assistance.

The sheriff’s department says the worst of the damage was along Highway 14, where the ice and snow pulled down several trees across the road.

“Myself, along with a couple of deputies, we actually had power saws in our vehicles,” Alexander said. “We used them to help clear some of the roads along with the supervisors and their road crews.”

Winston County EMA Director Buddy King says he expects the county to request close to $80,000 worth of federal aid.

“I couldn’t give you the exact figure but $10-$12,000 is what it cost us that week just for overtime to pay for our manpower,” Alexander said.

And that does not even include the wear and tear on equipment and vehicles.

“We had nurses that needed to get to work and dispatchers with the police department that lived out in the county that we went out and gave them a ride,” Alexander said.

The chief deputy says the cost would have been even higher without the help of other organizations, such as the local volunteer fire departments.

“It’s like nine, all-volunteer fire departments in the county,” he said. “And they stretched out all over the county and they responded where they needed to go to to help us.”