THE COST OF RECOVERY

SHARKEY COUNTY, MS – As cleanup gets into high gear from our deadly delta tornado, some have begun to wonder about its cost.
This won’t be the nation’s costliest disaster this year, but as Delta News

“We have volunteers here from as far away as Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana. They are right here in the city of rolling for helping us out,” said Rolling Fork’s mayor.

Mississippi lawmakers have volunteered some of the state’s vast financial reserves to help tornado victims recover.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency first estimated it would take 5 million dollars to match the federal funds available with President Biden’s disaster declaration… but within hours, that number rose to 8 million.

“So we’re working together and the resources will be here. We we have the strongest declaration that we could possibly have gotten from the President, both individual assistance and public assistance. Right. So I received it. There’s no question. We are in it at the state, local and federal level. For the long haul. We are obligated according to federal law to make these people as whole as we possibly can,” said U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi

And the price tag for that is likely to grow for both the federal and state government.

Even the house speaker acknowledges the cost of the recovery remains “fluid”.

“We are mindful of the fact that that will take time but we are here for the time it will take,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. Homeland Security secretary.

Possibly the biggest cost will come from sheltering people.

“we can see just where we’re standing here that one of the major issues that we’re going to face is housing,” said FEMA administrator, Deanne Criswell.

Add to that… a tornado that left a diagonal trail of destruction from the delta to the Alabama Tennessee border.

“And rolling fork is certainly devastated. But this disaster did not stop across that road right there. I may start yesterday with the Humphrey county sheriff in Silver City, and in Wynonna and Amory, and there’s damage in Smithville and Vaden. And a lot of other places throughout our state,” said Governor Tate Reeves.

Meantime, lawmakers missed their deadline to pass a state budget… quite possibly forcing them to extend the legislative session to address not only regular business… but the tornado too.

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