Carroll County Emergency Management/Civil Defense Director Ken Strachan met with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to tour the areas around the county damaged from torrential rainfall Carroll County received in late February.
Officials spent all day touring sites in several parts of the county including County Road 87, County Road 23, the Vaiden Clinic and a sewage pipe on Highway 430, belonging to the Town of Vaiden that collapsed due to the rainfall.
“Gov. Bryant has requested a federal declaration, and we are waiting to hear from this which will come from the Trump Administration. We have provided information to the state and federal officials from Carroll County,” Strachan said.
Strachan said officials were in town to check sites, take pictures, and to assess damage. However, seeing damage like that on County Road 87, where there was a washout, and on County Road 23, where a culvert was placed in as a temporary fix for an estimated 60-foot-long wooden bridge that was washed away during the rain, officials were clear that something needed to be done.
At an earlier board of supervisors meeting, Strachan said damages are estimated at $900,000, an increase from the original figure of $880,000. Supervisors, all except for Supervisor Dill Tucker, who has elected to use county force—meaning, he’ll do his own work on repairing his roads instead of bidding it out, are preparing to begin work repairing the major damage done because of the storm.
“Our assessments cover damage from all five supervisor districts, which was done using the MEMA app on my cellphone. I have personally rode with the supervisors throughout Carroll County, and they have done a great job with providing information to help Carroll County in applying for funds,” Strachan said.
Supervisors have been working endlessly since the storm happened to reopen roads again to traffic. At the end of Feb.
“The declarations that were done at the beginning of the flood damage from the supervisors was the first step in recovering funds, and Carroll County is aggressively seeking this funding with an all-out effort from documentation including pictures and estimates. We have called on Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and the Congressional Delegation to assist Carroll County,” Strachan said.
Tuesday, officials also toured sites in Carrollton, North Carrollton and Vaiden.
