Mississippi Valley State University was a scene of carnage Saturday with the dead and injured lying all around - fortunately, it was just a disaster drill and everybody walked away without a scratch.
The exercise, known as Delta Winds 2007, was held to gauge the effectiveness of First Responders and other emergency response personnel, said Debbie Montgomery, director of Valley's Office of Public Relations.
"Our No. 1 priority is to make sure that our students, our faculty, our staff and our visitors are taken care of," she said.
The exercise involved an imaginary F-5 tornado - with winds between 261 and 318 miles per hour - hitting the school's HPER building during a basketball game between the Valley's Delta Devils and the Jackson State University Tigers.
"This is to make sure we have a good foundation," Montgomery said.
The exercise, the first one on such a large scale, included the following agencies:
Mississippi Valley State University;
the state Institutions of Higher Learning;
the Northwest Region II Regional Response Team;
Greenwood-Leflore Emergency Management Agency;
Greenwood-Leflore Hospital;
Leflore County Sheriff's Department;
Leflore County Volunteer Fire Department;
Leflore County Board of Supervisors;
Itta Bena Police Department;
Greenwood Police Department;
Greenwood Fire Department;
Mississippi Highway Patrol;
Mississippi Medical Assistance Team;
Mississippi Civil Air Patrol;
Delta Electric Power Association;
MedStat Ambulance Service;
Mid-Delta Baptist Association;
University Medical Center Helicopter Communications Dispatch (testing only);
Mississippi National Guard Civil Support Team;
Mountains to Mississippi relief organization;
Mississippi Baptist Convention.
Dr. Roy Hudson, Valley's vice president of university relations, said the exercise was necessary to evaluate the degree of cooperation between university officials and emergency response teams.
"It's very important. We've had some real incidents here in the past. This is very important. It's realistic. It shows how serious it could be," he said.
