MEMA assessing tornado damage in Moss Point

Despite the report that tornado damage in Jackson and Jasper counties has not met the threshold for federal assistance, MEMA is not giving up.

The state agency is actively asking for additional damage assessments from Jackson and Jasper counties.

MEMA said last week that the damage was listed at $4.1 million, about a million short of the needed $5.2 million in damages to request a federal disaster declaration.

For right now, city and county officials are continuing to work through the long-term recovery council to foster rebuilding, which is a sum of $250,000 funded by the state as the council is still hearing cases.

District 2 Supervisor Ennit Morris said through the frustrations, the county has not stopped fighting to assist residents. “A lot of people are upset that it didn’t pass. But you know, you, those homes over there are, some of those homes are over 100 years old. The areas that are the old neighborhood. That’s why it didn’t classify for that amount of money. So, what we’re trying to do is still, like you say we still are going to classify it as a state of emergency and we going to go back through and see what we can do to help the city of Moss Point.”

MEMA said its goal is to build a stronger case for federal assistance. The original date to request a disaster declaration is Thursday. Now MEMA is requesting a two-week extension.