Violet JiraThe remnants of Hurricane Ida made their way over north Mississippi Monday evening and into Tuesday morning. By Monday afternoon, Ida had been downgraded to a tropical depression by the National Weather Service. Oxford weathered several hours of heavy rain, high winds and low visibility, but was left largely unscathed by one of the worst hurricanes to strike the coast. The flash flood warning that was set to expire Tuesday evening was cancelled by the afternoon.
The storm did cause scattered power outages, one of which delayed the opening of Lafayette County Schools. The school district announced the delay via Twitter early Tuesday morning.
“Lafayette county schools will operate on a 2-hour delay today,” the tweet read. “The area is experiencing a power outage due to last night’s storms and will be restored shortly.”
As of Tuesday evening, 361 people are without power in Lafayette County, compared to the 41,311 people statewide who are without power. Most of these people are concentrated in the southwestern part of Mississippi, where Ida hit the state the hardest.
In addition, there were reports of debris from a fallen tree obstructing Highway 30 at County Road 256 Monday evening, but it is unclear whether this was caused by the depression.
Oxford and Lafayette county had braced for the worst from the storm that devastated the coast. Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill reassured the community, emphasizing that the city was prepared for the worst.
“We have been dealing with storms of many types for the past two years,” she tweeted Monday. “Today is no different.”
The storm caused widespread flooding in southern Mississippi, washing out a portion of Highway 30 near Lucedale, MS in George County. Reports say that a storm surge in Hancock County reached a height of eight feet.
Tate Reeves announced in a press conference that Mississippi would be sharing Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel and resources along with individuals in uniform with Louisiana. The region, battered by the hurricane, is now dealing with widespread power outages, loss and destruction.
“We’re going to send men and women in uniform from Mississippi to help in Louisiana,” Reeves said. “Because that’s who we are.”
