In a conversation with former Simpson County Sheriff Kenneth Lewis regarding Hurricane Katrina, he said the county was expecting the storm to be as bad as it was. He added that he learned a lot too.
“Probably two to three weeks before, we started having regular emergency management meetings – talking with the weather bureau, MEMA – on the phone. We got representatives from hospitals, the school board, all kinds of places to come in. They had us right on queue for what the winds were going to be. But we still didn’t know it was going to be as bad as it was,” Lewis explained.
He continued, “We had everybody lined up. Anytime you get hundred mile an hour winds – hurricane winds – you’re going to have a lot of trees down. We already had our county crews lined up; they knew they were going to be on call that night. They had backhoes at home so all they had to do was go. The fire departments were ready to cut trees.”
However, a big and unexpected surprise was that the 911 system for Magee and Mendenhall was knocked out of commission at the beginning of the storm. Instead, emergency calls were routed to Raleigh, which in turn called the SCSD phone lines. This proactive measure had been activated beforehand, just in case.
People especially difficult to reach were those who lived on the outskirts of the county where so many trees were down.
Lewis recalls only one reported death from the storm that was the result of a tree falling on a man in his yard. It was near the Sharon community right on the line with Jefferson Davis County. Before the hurricane hit, the sheriff placed deputies at all the county fire stations for availability should someone be needed. However, no one was able to reach this man. So Lewis took two inmate crews with him to the home, cutting trees out of the roads as they traveled. They were able to extricate the victim and Lewis then transported him the funeral home in his truck, relieving the burden for the family members.
The county faced tough issues without electricity, including lack of fuel. All county vehicles needed fuel. The sheriff’s department took a generator to the gas station to power it, filling law enforcement vehicles, fire trucks, and school buses.
Mendenhall lost water in addition to electricity. While the sheriff’s office and jail had generators, the loss of water proved to be a big issue for Lewis. The county jail housed 100 inmates. “Keep in mind, the sheriff’s department and jail had no running water, drinking water yes; but no running water. That was kind of bad. In that mix there were a lot of problems that had to be worked out.” There are now generators on all the water wells to prevent water loss in the future.
Lewis worked with Jack McAlpin, Simpson County School District superintendent at the time, to relocate inmates to Madison, Rankin, and Yazoo counties until water could be restored. McAlpin allowed Lewis usage of the school buses for transportation. The trustees remained in Simpson County.
The sheriff’s department personnel and inmates also had to be fed. “Richard Neely was the assistant EMA director at the time. His wife came down there and cooked for everybody. What was funny was we didn’t know what we were going to eat. Polk’s gave us a bunch of food. People started emptying their deep freezers and they’d bring it to us. Country Fisherman in Mendenhall lost all their power. They brought all their fish, oysters, shrimp, everything.”
Lewis had friends at the Rankin County Emergency Management Agency. They too had made preparations before Katrina made landfall including 18 wheelers loaded with water. Five semis were diverted to Simpson County and sent to various spots in the county for distribution, one case per person.
Dealing with people was difficult at times as they were upset. Lewis saw the worst and the best in people during those days. He remembers a man evacuating the coast who had lost everything, heading north on Hwy. 49. The man stopped his car to enter traffic in an effort to kill himself. He was stopped.
But there were no reports of looting. “How about that? Everybody was nice. I’m sure there was something that went on but we didn’t get any reports of it.”
Lewis was especially thankful for the cooperation given by Magee Police Department during those days as most of highway patrol officers were on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He also shared appreciation for the assistance of Magee Fire Department.
“I hope it never happens again. We learned a lot. We learned what people need. I hope some of the things we did carry over to the next time. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do; you just have to wait it out. Everybody helped everybody. I think all in all, it went well.”
