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DPCC aids Yazoo City recovery

It was a first for Yazoo City - that’s what Bernice McGinnis remembers. “We’ve had tornados before and they did some damage, but nothing of this magnitude. Nothing! Ever!” McGinnis has been the Yazoo County Emergency Management Director for eight years and she was prepared for the worst that Saturday, but hoped it wouldn’t happen. McGinnis and administrative assistant, David Brown, were in the courthouse the morning of April 24. McGinnis had been there all night and Brown came that morning. “We were in constant contact with the weather service,” McGinnis recalled. “We knew the storm was going to hit us.” But what worried McGinnis, who is also the 911 Coordinator, were the words used by the weather service to describe it. “They used words we were not accustomed to hearing, like, ‘tornado emergency’ and ‘extremely dangerous.’ They used those a lot,” she said.

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Here’s the other Oxford story

Water main breaks are pretty common. One broke in Oxford, Mississippi on the Square, earlier this summer. Parts of Van Buren Avenue and South Lamar were closed, and several restaurants were unable to serve patrons. The Daily Mississippian reported that the line on the Square ruptured the afternoon of June 12, resulting in flooding and sedimentation on the streets. The report also said the 8-inch cast iron main ruptured due to a crack on the bottom side of the pipe. The line was repaired and the city was able to have the water back on by 9 p.m. the same day.

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Columbus Light and Water is graduating from the old school

They don’t do it anymore - dig without calling Mississippi 811, that is. According to Steve Barksdale, Superintendent, Columbus Light and Water, “That’s old school.” For years Columbus relied on a damage prevention program with emphasis on “who you know,” rather than “what you know.” They were not alone; other municipalities operated the same way. It began years ago, before the Mississippi 811 system. An excavation project usually started with a call to other utilities to see if they had any facilities in conflict with the planned work. It was easy because they knew each other; they were neighbors, some were even relatives. They had their phone numbers and since everyone was familiar with everyone, as well as street corners and landmarks, most of the information was given without dispatching a locator.