As many dealt with the devastation caused by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, there had been no orders as of Monday to prepare any locations in Greenwood to serve as shelters for evacuees.
Fred Randle, director of emergency management for Leflore County, said there were no plans to provide emergency shelter or lodging.
According to PowerOutage.-US, more than 1 million people were without power in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. Entergy New Orleans, the main power provider in New Orleans, said the city could be without power for weeks after eight transmission lines were blown down and damaged in the storm.
One possible evacuation site in Greenwood would be North Greenwood Baptist Church’s Recreational Outreach Center. However, the Rev. Dr. Jim Phillips, the church’s pastor, said he had not been given any word from the Mississippi Baptist Convention to prepare the center to serve as a shelter.
“The building was built over 10 years ago and was built for these types of disaster situations,” Phillips said. “It has showers, restrooms and a full commercial kitchen, and the list goes on.”
Phillips said the Recreational Outreach Center has housed as many as 14 evacuee families at one time for multiple nights.
Under the Mississippi Baptist Convention’s protocol, various churches or other locations are on call to serve as shelters, and North Greenwood Baptist is ready and available if needed, Phillips said.
Nicholas Fenner, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Jackson, said Monday afternoon that Greenwood was projected to receive a total of 2 to 4 inches of rain from the storm. Fenner said wind gusts reached 40 mph Monday.
“By Tuesday morning, most of the rain should be past the Greenwood area,” Fenner said.
“Looking ahead to the rest of the week, it looks like most of central and northern Mississippi will be dry.”
- Contact Drew Richardson at 662-581-7233 or drichardson@gwcommonwealth.com.
