Greenwood and Leflore County governments were preparing Thursday for the potential impact of a winter storm making its way through the South and Midwest, but conditions were expected to be drier on Friday.
Both the Greenwood City Council and the Leflore County Board of Supervisors held meetings on Thursday to approve ice storm emergency proclamations.
In addition, the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School Board voted Thursday during a special called meeting to implement virtual instruction on Friday, with instructional staff working from home.
Students were dismissed early Thursday.
The National Weather Service in Jackson had designated the region with a “limited threat” of ice accumulation. There was also an ice storm warning for Leflore County, as well as Bolivar, Sunflower and Washington counties, until midnight.
However, Joanne Culin, a meteorologist with the Jackson bureau of the National Weather Service, said Thursday afternoon that most of the heaviest precipitation had moved out of the region.
She said conditions were likely to be drier by daybreak with no additional precipitation expected. For Friday, “we’re expecting highs to not really get much above freezing, probably around 34 degrees,” Culin said.
Fred Randle, Leflore County’s director of emergency management, told the City Council he recommended the resolution for an emergency proclamation because “we are under an ice storm warning at this point, and I just want to be proactive.” He then drove to the Leflore County Courthouse to provide the supervisors the same information.
The proclamation allowed city and county workers and emergency services to be ready to respond if conditions worsened by Friday morning.
Mayor Carolyn McAdams and Ward 2’s Lisa Cookston were absent from the council meeting. District 1’s Sam Abraham and District 3’s Anjuan Brown were absent from the supervisors’ meeting.
- Contact Gerard Edic at 662-581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com. Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth
.com.
