More than 140,000 power outages continue to persist after Winter Storm Fern left parts of north Mississippi reeling from severe damage.
Some cities including Tupelo experienced lower levels of damage according to KC Grist, executive director of the American Red Cross North Mississippi Chapter.
Shamira Muhammad
Fern relief efforts ongoing for thousands
“We have been very blessed. Our roads are clear. It's still very cold and we had lots of ice on trees, but the roads here are clear,” she said.
Grist said cities like Oxford experienced a different reality, including blocked roads and more power outages.
“It just varies a little bit from county to county, but we have everything from almost no damage to complete disaster,” Grist said.
She compared damage in Tippah, Alcorn and Lafayette counties to conditions from a devastating 1994 storm.
“The roads are completely iced over,” she said. “You have trees and power lines in ice, and of course some of those have snapped. We've seen pictures where trees have fallen on houses, trees have fallen on cars, trees have fallen across roads and made them inaccessible, and then certainly areas where power lines have broken which is leading to the lack of power.”
Grist said her organization has not been able to reach areas experiencing severe damage.
“In the interim, we've just stayed in touch [with local officials and emergency managers],” she said. “For example, if a shelter were not necessary, but there were people in their homes, say, that still didn't have power, we might consider doing some mobile feeding out into more rural areas, as long as the roads are passable.”
Disaster teams from the Red Cross were also in contact with local officials in advance of the storm and were able to set up shelters in Cleveland and Tupelo to feed and shelter residents.
“In other areas, we were able to position some resources, some cots and blankets and those types of things so that the community had access to them for their own warming shelters once we were not able to get in any longer,” said Grist.
Four deaths have been reported in Mississippi and neighboring Louisiana has reported eight, including from loss of oxygen.
“Our first priority is always people who may be medically at risk, the most vulnerable, people who might have medical issues that losing power could be devastating,” said Grist. “So we try to help there. We try to, obviously, with the elderly. But really, the Red Cross mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. So it's really anyone who is struggling as a result of a disaster.”
It is unclear how quickly recovery efforts will be needed to help rural areas of the state hit hardest by the storm.
“I think certainly there's potential that could go on for days or even weeks if power is not able to be restored,” said Grist.
Help is also coming from other regions in the state.
“We have opened up the old National Guard Armory here on the fairgrounds to be a station where we're receiving non-perishable goods, bottles of water, diapers, different things like that that we can facilitate with MEMA and FEMA that's already on the ground,” said Hayes Patrick, the Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture and the Acting Executive Director of the Mississippi Fairgrounds in Jackson.
Concession owners at the fairgrounds sent enough food to feed 400 people in northern counties early Monday.
Frigid conditions continue to impact more southern regions in Mississippi, including Hinds county. More than 1,000 people experience homelessness in the state, including those who are either permanently without shelter or living in places not fit for habitation.
“We are providing meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner sponsored by different organizations around town,” said Nick Spradley, executive director of Shower Power Mississippi, a nonprofit managing a 75 bed shelter in Jackson.
He said they reached capacity 90 minutes after opening Saturday.
“We don't leave anybody outside if they don't have power or they're homeless,” he said. “So anybody is welcome with us to get some warmth.”
Spradley said Shower Power and other shelter organizations, including Stewpot, are still looking for monetary or physical donations.
“These shelters cost so much money,” he said. “We pay out of pocket for our security, which is JPD [Jackson Police Department] and Capitol Police officers that are off duty. Then we also have a huge expense for heating and electricity. So monetary donations right now for our shelters are a huge, huge need.”
Spradley said they are accepting men's and women's thermal underwear, regular underwear for men and women and men's pants.
“We have no men's pants right now, size 30 through 34, or shoes, men's, size 10 through 14. Those are our biggest needs right now,” he said.
Shower Power MS and Stewpot are also accepting non-perishable food items.