‘We’ll just pray it doesn’t happen:’ Hernando residents brace for more storms as cleanup continues
HERNANDO, Miss. (WMC) - Deborah Smith lives on Thousand Oaks Drive in Hernando, where a massive tree remains down blocking off most of the road and taking down the power lines.
Smith said she went to bed Sunday night and then got a notification on her phone about the severe weather. Smith said she lost power shortly after that.
“The sirens didn’t go off in Hernando, but my phone went off,” said Smith. “So, we all got up, kind of hung out in the hallway and then the power went out. We couldn’t see that night, the damage.”
Smith and her family spent Tuesday cleaning up debris in the front yard of their home.
“It was heartbreaking. I had no idea it had done all of this, and then as the day went on yesterday, I realized how bad it is on farther down the street,” said Smith.
City of Hernando Mayor Chip Johnson said the area looks better Tuesday compared to Monday.
He said Tuesday morning, Entergy gave him an update that around 3,700 people were still without power. Johnson said Entergy reported over 8,000 on Monday morning.
“They have 20 crews working and 10 more crews on the way. So, most of it is down to Entergy at this point. Our local crews of the Public Works Department of Hernando and DeSoto County have been working all they can to get trees cleared out of the road,” said Johnson.
He also said the bigger trees are still down on the roads that the crews can’t get to yet until Entergy comes out.
“So, now the city has turned to clearing all of the piles of limbs. We know that’s going to continue probably for a couple of months,” said Johnson.
Smith said the storm has brought the community together.
“The neighbors are all out trying to help each other. Total strangers from different places are showing up and just helping people. It’s been heartwarming,” said Smith.
Smith said she’s hoping the storms coming through the area Tuesday stay away from her street.
“We’ll just pray it doesn’t happen,” said Smith. “Skip this street for today anyway.”
Johnson said the city opened a cooling and charging station at the Gail Community Center. That’s located at 2601 Elm Street in Hernando. Johnson said it will stay open for residents to use.
As for the preparations for Tuesday’s storms, Mayor Johnson said crews have been out working.
“All the leaves and small limbs that blew off and pieces of cardboard that came out of garbage cans are now sitting right on top of our storm drains. So, we not only have the public works department cleaning storm drains, but the parks department has jumped in to help with that. It’s just kind of all hands on deck right now to get those storm drains cleared out so that the water will drain and not flood people’s homes,” said Johnson.
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