Humphreys County EMA gives update on recovery efforts
WAVERLY, Tenn. — One week ago, Humphreys County was under a flash flood emergency, devastating a large part of the community.
“Last Saturday, we had a sudden flash flood that rose so quickly that our residents were not able to be notified to be evacuated,” said Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency Public Information Officer Grey Collier.
The community is continuing to clean up those areas this week.
“The response has been overwhelming. We have had so many citizens to come and volunteer and offer up their heavy equipment and offer up their time. So it’s been overwhelming,” Collier said.
Thankfully, they are making a lot of progress.
“Once the recovery was over, the cleanup crews are going out. And over the last four days, they’ve managed to haul off over 800 loads to the landfill,” Collier said.
And just one week later, they are under yet another flash flood watch due to Hurricane Ida.
“There is a flash flood watch. We are under that. We don’t expect it to be anywhere near what we had last weekend,” Collier said.
The EMA is passing out tarps to residents who have severe structural damage to their homes to protect what they have left.
“They’ve been working all week to try and draw those areas out. And we don’t want to see them have to do that over and over again,” Collier said.
The town does have a plan in place to deal with any more flooding.
“The police officers here in town are going to be going out. They’re going to be monitoring, and if the creeks do start to rise, they will be out in the neighborhoods telling everyone they need to evacuate,” Collier said.
They have just started the long process to bring their city back to normal.
They are still looking for volunteers to help clean up.
However, if you would like to make a monetary donation instead, there is a list of funds through their website and here.
