William H. Kelly III
Editor-in-Chief
Summer 2016 was truly one to remember with the surplus of erratic weather ranging from intense heat and rain that limited summer activities. On Aug. 12, a historic storm led to a turn of events with a devastating outcome that affected the states of Mississippi and Louisiana.
Lasting a little over a week, the disastrous storm caused historic flooding destroying over 40,000 homes and killing approximately 13 people, including elderly men and women, according to WGNO ABC.
The heavy rains in Mississippi damaged 10 bridges in Wilkinson County and destroyed two homes and damaged 23 others, causing evacuations in areas bordering Louisiana. Roads were also damaged in Adams, Amite and Pike counties near the Louisiana line; Copiah County south of Jackson; and Harrison County on the Gulf Coast. No deaths or serious injuries were reported from flooding in Mississippi according to abcnews.go.com.
The historic flooding affected the masses throughout the boot of Louisiana and left many families stranded and desperate for assistance. Johnathan Anderson, a freshman business major from Baton Rouge, La., was one of the many students from Jackson State University whose families were impacted.
“During the flooding, my mom woke me up at about nine, she said the water was rising and I was like ‘What you talking about the water is rising?’ and we look outside and across the street the water was almost reaching people’s mailboxes, so we knew it was going to get bad soon so we had to leave. We ended up boating out of the neighborhood and staying at a shelter for a little minute and by the end of the night we were staying at a hotel knowing that we couldn’t get back to our house,” said Anderson.
Anderson and his family also experienced severe water damage in their home.
“Fortunately, we got the cars out of the way so they weren’t affected at all but the house, my mom said the water rose up about two feet so anything that was real low to the ground, like cabinets or the bottom of our closets were affected so we basically had to throw everything out,” said Anderson.
Anderson stated that his family is now doing fine but they are currently staying in an apartment.
While Louisiana is not unfamiliar with natural disasters, many are still questioning why the storms were so brutal.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), the moisture content in the atmosphere was at an all-time record high for the area and was even higher than observations during some tropical cyclones.
Kalin Norman, a freshman mass communication major from New Orleans, La., was also affected by the storm.
“It was more of an inconvenience since it was move-in day and we had all of these plans laid out and we couldn’t move. At the same time, it was very scary because three of my cousins live in Baton Rouge, all three of them go to Southern University, and one of them lives by where the police were shot. When we started to hear that Baton Rouge was being flooded, we were very concerned for them because we didn’t know what was going to happen as far as their safety and if it was possible for them to come back home or get to my grandmother’s in Natchez where there is higher ground,” said Norman.
Jackson State is currently accepting donations for victims in Crosby, Miss. on the first floor of the Student Center from 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
For additional information on how you can help flood victims, contact the JSU Center for Student Engagement and Leadership at 601-979-1179.
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