FEMA assessing damage in Marion, Jones counties

COLUMBIA – Despite a week devoted to cleanup and relief efforts of hundreds of local officials, businessmen and volunteers, the scars of the storm that tore apart homes and lives in Columbia last week remained raw and vivid seven days later.

“This is the most damaging tornado I have ever seen here in my 40 years in emergency management,” said Charlie Connerly, Marion County’s former EMA director who returned to the trenches after the storm swept through on Dec. 23.

Monday, agents with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration joined state and local officials to tour the Columbia area, as well as regions in Jones and Lamar counties that were hit by tornadoes and high winds spawned by the storm cell that slammed the Pine Belt area.

Those Joint Preliminary Damage Assessments are expected to be completed today, and likely be sent up a chain of review to determine what level of federal assistance might be available to aid in the recovery of those areas.

“If the numbers are there, we could have a decision by the end of next week,” said Robert Latham Jr., executive director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. “That’s being a little optimistic, but I like being optimistic.”

A certain level of confirmed, assessed damage can trigger a Presidential Disaster Declaration, Latham said. Such a declaration would make assistance not only available for the repair and reconstruction of public infrastructure and buildings, but also grants for individual homeowners and renters.

“All we can do is put the facts together and submit it and see what happens after that,” Latham said. “We should have the numbers by late (this) afternoon, and have a request go forward by the end of the week, Friday. We’ll see.”

MEMA did initial calculations and assessments last week, and based on those figures, requested FEMA presence for the JPDAs.

Among the initial figures:

•241 homes and 77 businesses “affected” in Marion and Jones counties

•108 homes and 43 businesses “destroyed/major damage” in Marion County

•12 homes and one business “destroyed/major damage” in Jones County

•1 business “major damage” in Lamar County

“It’s not like (2005’s Hurricane) Katrina, where a whole town is just flattened,” said Nik Ingram, a small business owner and member of Woodlawn United Pentecostal Church, who is helping coordinate volunteer relief efforts. “But where (the tornado) touched down, it’s just devastated.”

MEMA officials have attributed five deaths and 50 injuries to the storm cell.

Two of the deaths occurred Dec. 23 in Columbia, two more that day in Jones County. The fifth took place a state away and four days later.

The family of Mickey Hudson, chief executive officer of Hudson’s Inc., said his death early Saturday morning at South Baldwin Medical Center in Foley, Alabama, was because of undetected internal injuries he suffered during the storm.

Michael Callahan, spokesman for the family, said his father-in-law had pulled over to the side of the road as the storm hit while he was driving on U.S. 98.

“After the storm passed, he viewed the damage to his vehicle, which was damaged but drivable,” Callahan wrote in an email. “Once he calmed down, he continued traveling to his farm in Osyka. He was not cut, bruised or appeared to have any injuries whatsoever. While in Osyka, he made several repairs and awoke the next morning … sore and stiff.”

Callahan said Hudson traveled to his home in Orange Beach, Alabama, on Christmas Day, and that night, developed difficulty breathing. He went to SBMC, was examined and released.

“The following day, Mickey’s condition worsened and he sought out his family physician in Orange Beach,” Callahan wrote. “He was taken back to SBMC, where he received immediate medical attention. Throughout his hospital stay, he was alert and joking with medical personnel.

“He passed away around 4 a.m. on Saturday. At no time did he refuse medical attention. However, the full extent of his injuries was not known until it was too late.”

Woodlawn, which sits on the southern edge of U.S. 98 at the northern end of the entrance to Columbia, has served as the center for relief efforts, acting first as the nexus for first responders, and now a collection-distribution center for volunteers and donations.

As of early Monday afternoon, more than 500 pairs of helping hands had logged in to pitch in, some as repeat efforts, others among a steady stream of newcomers.

“Volunteer efforts, that’s really the game-changer,” MEMA spokesman Brett Carr said. “Another two or three weeks, and this will be a totally different-looking place. Volunteers, they are the make and break of these situations. We couldn’t do it without them.”

The Pine Belt has pitched in from the start. Marion County EMA Director Aaron Greer said EMA directors from 13 other counties were on-site the night of the storm, and aid has been offered and received from around the area.

The day of the storm, the City of Hattiesburg sent immediate response teams, along with lights and generators, to Columbia to help with tornado damage and debris cleanup in Marion County.

And those efforts seemed poised to continue.

“We are working continuously to see relief efforts come to those affected by this devastating storm,” Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree said. “We know that healing comes to those (who) lend a helping hand, by either serving or being served.”

TORNADO AID

Those wishing to donate goods through Woodlawn United Pentecostal Church to those affected by the tornado that hit the Columbia area Dec. 23 are being asked to consider items below, including:

Immediate needs

•Toilet paper

•Paper towels

•Powerade/Gatorade

•Soft drinks

Short-term needs

•Bleach

•Spray bleach

•Spray cleaners

•Buckets

•Mops/brooms/dust pans

•Trash bags

•Laundry supplies

•Soap

•Shampoo/conditioners

•Toothbrushes/toothpaste

•Razors

•Sheets

•Blankets

•Pillows

Building/Repair supplies

•Safety glasses

•Gloves

•Roofing tin

•Lumber