The first flooding evacuees have arrived in Greenwood from the south Delta.
Seven made it to the Red Cross shelter set up at North Greenwood Baptist Church Thursday night, according to Ken Sandy, the Red Cross leader at the shelter.
“We’re prepared for more. Whether we experience it or not remains to be seen,” he said this morning.
A flood of historic proportions — caused by both a swollen Mississippi River and a backed-up Yazoo — is swamping residents along the Mississippi and those living among farmland in the bowl at the southern end of the Delta.
The Rev. Jim Phillips, pastor of North Greenwood Baptist, said 4,000 evacuees are expected to go somewhere but they don’t know where. He said the shelter is ready at the church’s Recreational Outreach Center and signs are posted.
“It’s really just a wait-and-see thing,” Phillips said.
About 15 Red Cross personnel arrived Thursday from locations including California, New York, Kansas and Michigan, Phillips said. Red Cross people from closer by are already occupied in Alabama and North Mississippi with tornado relief, he said.
Phillips said it was interesting to see all the disaster experts, with their backpacks and other supplies, meet each other, discuss their credentials and get to work.
They’re going to use the church’s worship area for a medical triage because they anticipate hospice and dialysis patients. The ROC’s gym will be the living quarters, and the kitchen is capable of serving an estimated 200 meals, Phillips said.
A disaster relief team from the Mississippi Baptist Convention will also be arriving at the church soon, Phillips said. They’ll be setting up a portable kitchen from an 18-wheeler in the parking lot that can serve 2,000 meals, which can be distributed to other regional shelters.
The truck initially set up at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Grenada, but officials felt that was too far away, Phillips said.
He said North Greenwood Baptist built its building five years ago to be a refuge for disaster victims.
“We’re really excited just to be a part of it,” he said.
T.W. Cooper, executive director of the Greenwood-Leflore Emergency Management Agency, said the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency hasn’t authorized opening the shelter yet. But he said a family arrived, and they didn’t want to turn anyone away.
Cooper said he expects MEMA will issue the order today to open up. He said Health Department officials were making final inspections at Mississippi Valley State University this morning and that he expects that shelter to open today.
• Contact Charlie Smith at csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
