Starkville apartments see effects of severe storm

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – After severe storms on Saturday night, the damages have been shown in many different areas.

Homes were damaged by the severe weather, strong winds, and large hail.

Some homeowners and residents of the Highlands in Starkville are still recovering from the risky weather.

Plenty of volunteers from around the area to help repair some of the damages.

“Of course when we come out it’s at night so you can’t see a whole lot but we can tell already that we were going have significant damage out here,” Kristen Campanella said. “It was we had several roofs that were taken out, we had a lot of windows that were pulled out so significant damage at Highlands.”

The Oktibbeha County EMA director said there were over 100 damage assessments completed by their department for the Highlands Plantation Apartments.

Since the MSU campus is nearby, some college students were affected.

“A lot of students right now aren’t here cause it is Christmas break so a lot of people are going to come home and they might not have a whole lot of a home left,” Edwin Suggs said. “It’s going to be a lot of water damage, a lot of storm damage and this is just one of those things that happens, it never really comes to our area but last night was a first.”

Even though there is a large amount of damage to the apartments the Starkville community made sure to help those in need.

“Starkville has always been a resilient community,” Brett Watson said. “The Highlands have shown itself to be just as resilient. We are out here today and the residents and owners are showing up and cleaning up. Getting things back to normal, I think that’s how Oktibbeha County roles and I’m proud I’ve worked here and proud to be a part of it.”

“It was all hand on deck and everybody come out to make sure everybody’s okay,” Campanella said. “Our first thing of course is to conduct a search and rescue to make sure we had everybody out. We did have OSERVs that provided lodging for at least five who were displaced.”The captain of the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department said there were no injuries reported.

The Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency said they will continue to help those in need who were affected by the storm.

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