Video: EMCC Begins Clean Up After Storm Damage

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SCOOBA, Miss. (WCBI) – The clean up begins at East Mississippi Community College.

Parts of the campus were heavily damaged by the severe weather that moved through Tuesday evening.

A plan was in place and put to use as the strong storms moved into Scooba.

EMCC students and staff heeded the warnings and got to their safe places.

Now, they are left to pick up the pieces of what the storm left behind.

EMCC President Dr. Tom Huebner was in Jackson when he heard severe weather was heading for Scooba.

He decided to come back to campus and made it just minutes before it hit.

“I was in the administration building with my family and as soon as the storm was over, I began the process of kind of assessing where we were and within minutes I got the word that we had sustained some damage back in this part of the campus,” said Dr. Huebner.

An area of cottages where student athletes live was heavily damaged, along with the baseball and softball fields.

There wasn’t anybody in these facilities when the storm hit. Dr Huebner says the college successfully launched their emergency plan, which kept everyone safe.

“One of the things I’m most proud of in all of this is that we have a campus police force and an emergency management planning team that has thought through all of these things and all of these details. And so when you have people who are professionals who have worked through the alternatives and the options, in some ways it makes the next steps easier,” added Dr. Huebner.

A number of students were on campus to help with the clean up efforts.

The EMCC baseball season starts on Friday but for these team members, they are just glad everyone stayed safe.

“It’s not great for sure, but we know we can get through it. We have God on our side and we’ll just keep practicing. Luckily we start with an away game so we don’t have to play on this field anytime real soon, so hopefully they can get some stuff done on the field, we can have everything ready and I think we’ll be fine,” said Drew Golden, a member of the baseball team.

“You really don’t think about it happening to you, really just take it for granted kinda. But it’s just a shock more than anything, just walking outside and seeing your entire fence gone and just kinda being in awe,” said Mike Farnell, member of the baseball team.

EMCC’s campus will re-open for normal operations on Thursday.