MDEQ offers Debris Management Guidance for storm ravaged areas

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has developed three debris management guidance documents in response to this weekend’s storm events. MDEQ is providing information to local governments on selecting temporary emergency debris sites, the locations of existing solid waste sites, and dealing with asbestos.

“As a native of Yazoo County, I understand clearly the challenges facing local governments in that county and also in Warren, Holmes, and Choctaw counties. The amount of debris left behind is a big challenge for any county. Therefore, MDEQ has moved quickly to provide guidance to local officials who are dealing with large amounts of debris and other solid waste. We realize the need for additional public solid waste management facilities and are here to provide that information as well as for other solid waste management issues,” said MDEQ Executive Director Trudy Fisher.

The MDEQ documents include the following:

• Guidance to local governments on selecting and requesting approval for emergency debris management sites for burning, storage, or chipping of vegetative debris and storage/staging of structural debris.
• Guidance on the existing permitted solid waste facilities available in the 4 high impact counties and the permitted solid waste facilities in the adjacent counties to those high impact counties.
• Preliminary guidance on dealing with asbestos containing materials advising people to be cautious in managing and cleaning asbestos materials at single family homes and advising owners of commercial, non-residential, and multi-family dwelling unit owners to contact MDEQ for further guidance

The documents are available at:
http://www.deq.state.ms.us/MDEQ.nsf/page/SW_EmergencyDebrisManagementGuidance4.24.2010?OpenDocument

MDEQ Press Release

Allstate Announces Mobile Claims Centers Located to Yazoo City For Disaster Relief

Allstate has set up a Mobile Claims Center in Yazoo City, Miss. to help policyholders affected by Saturday’s tornado. The self-contained mobile claims office is equipped with generators, satellite technology and high-speed internet connectivity allowing Allstate’s National Catastrophe Team the ability to provide customer claim support in areas hardest hit by a tornado.

By visiting a Mobile Claims Center, Allstate customers will be able to start the claims process and ask questions about their claim.

The current Allstate Mobile Claims Center location as of April 26, 2010, is listed below. The location of this unit is subject to change. For an updated list of locations visit www.allstate.com/catastrophe/Mobile-Response-Units.aspx

Sunflower Foods
734 E 15 St,
Yazoo City, MS

Hours are from 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Monday through Friday.

Allstate policyholders whose homes or automobiles have been damaged or destroyed by the recent storm can contact Allstate by calling 1-800-54-STORM, visiting a Mobile Claims Center, or logging onto Allstate.com.

Governor declares Day of Prayer, State Flags at Half Staff for Period of Mourning

Gov. Haley Barbour has declared Tuesday as a Day of Prayer to remember Mississippians who suffered losses in Saturday's severe weather and for those families who lost loved ones in last week's oil rig accident.

Ten people in Mississippi died in Saturday's tornado.

Four Mississippians were reported missing in the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Barbour says the past few days "have been tough for many Mississippi families."

Barbour has ordered state flags to be flown at half staff April 27 through April 30 as part of a period of mourning.

Associated Press

Fox News highlights the incredible dedication of long time Yazoo County Coroner Ricky Shivers (Video)

Yazoo County Coroner Ricky Shivers -- a Baptist deacon -- says he was in his truck when the twister picked it up and flipped it four times. Shivers says he told God that if it was his time to die, he was ready. Later he went out in his hospital gown to help identify bodies.


Fox reporter, Kris Gutierrez does an amazing job with Mr. Shivers. How do you think a CNN or MSNBC reporter would have responded to Mr. Shivers' Christian worldview of the twister? Considering the response from Mr. Guiterrez, would the MSM respond with an "Amen" or the "We're praying for you, and I mean it"?

Town Hall

Gulf Coast Residents come to aid Tornado Victims in Yazoo City

State asks for volunteers to help with tornado relief efforts


Yazoo City, Miss., residents walk past a tornado destroyed home on Sunday, April 25, 2010. Many residents spent the better part of the day cleaning up and trying to salvage possessions in the homes and businesses damaged by Saturday's tornado. The director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said Sunday that volunteers are needed after a tornado sliced through dozens of counties, killing at least 10 people and destroying numerous homes.

Mike Womack, director of MEMA, said officials are working with the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service to coordinate emergency relief efforts.

"We've set up the Volunteer Reception Center, which will oversee volunteers and national service members," Womack said. "We need people to assist in the removal of fallen trees, destroyed homes, as well as the clearing of other debris."

Visit www.volunteermississippi.org to volunteer or call 888-353-1793. Registered volunteers will be contacted, Womack said.

Paige Roberts, executive director of the Southeast Mississippi Chapter of the Red Cross, was in Yazoo City on Sunday with at least one other volunteer from Jackson County.

Yazoo City has been reported to be one of the hardest-hit areas by the mile-wide twister that ripped through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Saturday.

"It's bad here," Roberts said when contacted by cell phone on Sunday. "This is what tornadoes do. It ripped thorough cities and towns, leaving behind snapped trees. Trees cause the majority of the damage."

Roberts said when she arrived Saturday afternoon to the city that's just outside Jackson, she first encountered a family who lost their brother.

"He was asleep in his trailer, and a tree fell on it, killing him," Roberts said.

She also comforted two children who lost their mother as she tried to protect them.

"She died while trying to save her children," Roberts said. "The children are hospitalized, and both are under 7 years old."

Roberts said there are also Red Cross volunteers from Biloxi in Yazoo City.

"It reminds me of Katrina," she said. "The devastation is not as widespread as Katrina was, but the places that were hit resemble Katrina's destruction."

Roberts said more Gulf Coast volunteers could arrive throughout the week.

Mississippi Press

Tornado Relief Effort at Brandon City Hall

A tornado relief effort has been started at Brandon City Hall.


An 18-wheeler will be on site to collect relief items. Items being accepted: Non-perishable food, bottled water, clothing, bedding, sleeping bags, blankets, batteries, chain saws, blowers, towels, toiletries, cash donations, etc.

Location:
Brandon City Hall
1000 Municipal Drive
601-824-4579 or 601-955-1960

Collected between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Sun Pine has already agreed to supply pallets of cleaning supplies toward the effort.

MEMA issues latest damage assessment

Initial damage assessment teams began damage assessments today in the hardest hit areas following Saturday's storms.

They are:

• Attala — 35 homes damaged and seven injuries

• Choctaw — 114 homes/mobile homes damaged, two businesses, 15 injuries

• Holmes — 60 homes damaged and 25 injuries

• Monroe — 48 homes/mobile homes damaged, three businesses damaged, one injury

• Union — 63 homes/mobile homes damaged and one injury.

• Warren — 42 homes/mobile homes damaged

• Yazoo — 319 homes/mobile homes damaged

MEMA's Mobile Operations Unit is deployed in Yazoo County. Area coordinators are in Yazoo and Choctaw. More than 60 Mississippi National Guardsmen and MP's are in both of those counties, and 40 additional MHP officers have been deployed, as well.

The Department of Health has sent in water engineers and facility inspectors to Yazoo County.

MEMA has deployed 740 tarps; 10 light towers; one pallet of Meals Ready to Eat and seven pallets of water to Yazoo County; one pallet of water to Holmes County; and, 192 tarps to Attala County.

The United Way's Mississippi 211 opened it's call center today. The American Red Cross is on the scene, and shelters have been opened by ARC.

How bad do you want it?