Winston co. emergency agencies begin storm damage assessments

Imagine walking outside your home and seeing trees or power lines lying across the roads.

WINSTON COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- Hundreds of families woke up without power Thursday in Winston County.

Straight-line winds and heavy rain left a significant amount of damage in the southeastern portion of the County.

Now it’s time to start the clean-up.

Homeowners are bringing out chainsaws, tractors—anything they can to clear homes of debris.

Imagine walking outside your home and seeing trees or power lines lying across the roads.

That’s the reality for dozens of homeowners.

Emergency officials took a look at those damages earlier Thursday afternoon.

Most of the impacted area stretches from Hwy 397, 490, and several county roads.
Homeowners in Winston County are rolling up their sleeves.

“All the volunteers that have shown up out here, it’s been wonderful,” said Rebecca Yates.

The aftermath of Wednesday’s storm lays in Yates yard on Russell Road.

She says the storm grew louder as it passed over her house.

” It was a loud groaning noise and a lot of wind and rain slapping the window and stuff.

It wasn’t too bad, but it got hectic,” said Yates.

The Yates were met with a surprise in the morning.

Luckily, their home wasn’t damaged, but when they walked out the door the next morning, eight of their pine trees were down.

Now, it’s time to clean up.

” Cutting the trees up out of the yard and getting them hauled off. Hopefully, the power company will get up here quick, and get our power and stuff back on,” said Yates.

While homeowners clear debris, Winston County Emergency officials and MEMA are assessing the damage.

As of right now, 37 structures are impacted.

” Once the storm hit, the path came in from Neshoba county. It kind of came up through the south part of Winston County. It caused a lot of damage. We have a pretty good path going from Russell Road to Union Ridge Road, and Nanih Waiya,” said Kohrs.

Sheriff Deputy Scott Kohrs has a quick way to get a lay of the land, a drone.

” We have our drone the sheriff’s department is flying right now assessing the damage. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is flying their drone, so we can get as much footage as we can trying to document all the damage. It’s a force multiplier. It can get in the air, and it can do assessments in record time, as where it would take multiple crews hours to give proper assessments,” said Kohrs.

For now, folks continue the road to recovery.

” The community has been great, our friends have been great, everybody has been checking on us. We were fortunate,” said Kohrs.

Crews are still working to restore power in the area.