Chickasaw County Hosts Joint MEMA-FEMA Team For Flood Related Damage Assessments

CHICKASAW COUNTY, MISS. (WCBI) – Cities, towns and counties throughout the region are hopeful for financial relief to help pay for repairs in the aftermath of severe flooding.

The joint MEMA and FEMA disaster assessment team spent their day in Chickasaw county.

“In the county we had 34 different sites, roads and bridges included that had damage and in city of Okolona, 15 different roads that had some type of damage,” said Chickasaw County EMA Director Linda Griffin.

A stretch of Jefferson street was one of hardest hit in Okolona. Heavy and steady rains overwhelmed the drainage system and caused water to cover yards and the street.

Griffin says it’s important for the assessment teams to personally see and document all of the damaged areas.

“They can speak for us , asking for federal declaration to get reimbursement for our counties, they can, say, yes, I’ve been there and I”ve seen the damage myself,” Griffin said.

Crews moved swiftly doing what they could to help the flood waters drain. But Okolona’s public works superintendent says a permanent costly fix is needed and that’s where state and federal dollars will help.

“The culverts are pretty expensive,especially the larger ones, it’s not just a single area, but several other areas in town that got to be looked at as well, so we looking for FEMA to help us finance this,help us with it where we won’t have to go through this later on,” said Okolona Public Works Superintendent Richie Cousin.

It could take several months to get FEMA and MEMA funds for infrastructure repairs.

Governor Phil Bryant signed and declared a state of emergency February 25th and the state’s emergency operations center is activated and monitoring any requests or unmet needs from emergency management offices throughout the state.