More than 26,000 man hours logged in effort
CLARKSDALE, Miss., Feb. 2, 2006 — Hours after Hurricane Katrina blew through the State of Mississippi, members of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board (YMDLB) mobilized staff and equipment to the Coast to begin what would become an $809,000 recovery effort.
“We knew immediately that we had to go,” said Kelly Greenwood, CEO, Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board. “We knew it was something we had to do to help our state in a time of great tragedy.”
YMDLB President Sykes Sturdivant said that the commissioners unanimously supported Greenwood’s decision to mobilize immediately.
“The commissioners wanted to help fellow Mississippians in a time of need,” Sturdivant said. “It is amazing how well-equipped for a disaster this team is, and we are extremely proud of their unselfish actions and tireless efforts to help citizens on the Coast recover.”
Almost 40 YMDLB employees, who maintain Yazoo-Mississippi Delta levees full-time, rotated in and out, logging more than 26,000 man hours from August 30 until late November. Initial aid came in the way of fuel and equipment, including seven dump trucks, three excavators, two loaders and numerous other vehicles and tools. The YMDLB team was quickly organized to aid in the clean-up of several areas, including cemeteries, beaches and public and recreational areas, and the team also helped to clear Buccaneer State Park and McLeod State Park in Hancock County to ready the area for FEMA’s temporary housing. The most time-consuming portion of the recovery effort, however, focused on ditch clean-up.
“We helped remove debris from ditches in Waveland, Bay St. Louis and Diamondhead,” Greenwood said. “We started at the Gulf and worked our way in all the way to I-10.”
The team, who brought their own eating and drinking supplies, slept on the floor of temporary headquarters, used portable restrooms and showered with cold water in tents furnished by the National Guard. Greenwood received assignments at daily 6 p.m. meetings.
“It was pretty overwhelming, but you could see progress made everyday,” Greenwood said. “Most of the state and county employees had lost everything, and equipment was damaged or destroyed. They were crippled.”
Now Greenwood and the Board will look at plans to become first-responders in Mississippi to a major disaster, such as an ice storm, tornado or another hurricane. As a first-responder, teams mobilize immediately and are completely self-sufficient, providing their own food, water, sleeping arrangements and fuel.
“It’s a life-long commitment we want to have to the state,” Greenwood said. “We want to be the guys going in and helping until an area struck by disaster gets back on its feet.”
Greenwood says he was overwhelmed by the nationwide response to provide assistance.
“I’d have to say that every state in the union was represented down there,” he said. “This country sure is ready to help their neighbor.”
The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board is a Constitutional body of the State of Mississippi headquartered in Clarksdale, Miss., and is comprised of all or portions of 10 Delta counties including, DeSoto, Tunica, Coahoma, Sunflower, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Leflore, Humphreys, Holmes, and Yazoo. The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board is responsible for the first 98 miles of mainline Mississippi River levee in the state and 18 miles of backwater levees within the Mississippi Delta. They are also responsible for minor maintenance on some 330 miles of interior rivers and streams.
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