MC Campus Continues Storm Cleanup Friday
Darrell Walker and Zack Owens
At mid-morning, workers continued to load up giant pieces of an uprooted tree on a grassy area near Whittington Hall. It's a few yards from the electronic MC message board and sign along U.S. 80. Big chunks of the trees were tossed on trucks and removed to be burned at a site near the MC soccer fields.
Crews of Entergy employees worked long hours to get electricity back as soon as possible, with Aven Hall the last MC facility to see power restored around 8 a.m. Friday.
Earlier Friday morning, work crews from the City of Clinton helped clear away debris from a tree that fell from a hillside near Farr Hall. The tree spilled into the middle of College Street and toppled a maze of power lines late Thursday afternoon. The section of road near Self Hall, home of the School of Business, was closed to traffic for a few hours, but since has reopened.
Workers also cleared away debris from a tree that fell on the front lawn of the international programs office down from the Gore Galleries.
Still, there would be some storm cleanup to do in the days ahead. Several of the fences that surrounded the MC tennis courts had fallen or were broken due to strong wind gusts.
Zack Owens, a housekeeper supervisor with the Physical Plant Office, was busy Friday as workers kept at it much of the day. "Our workers were here early this morning picking up debris," he said.
Fortunately, there were no injuries. Mississippi College faculty, staff and students are preparing for MC's summer graduation Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at the A.E. Wood Coliseum. Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann is serving as the keynote speaker.
Thursday's storm that hit Clinton also impacted much of metro Jackson and Central Mississippi. More than 4,000 Entergy customers in Central Mississippi lost power Thursday. There were dozens of reports of trees and power lines down in the area.
It was one of the last days of summer camp for Centri-Kid campers. Camp counselor Cory Klassen of Georgia said the bad weather wasn't a problem, with campers taking their activities inside Thursday afternoon and into the evening hours. "God gave us the strength," he said near some of the small tree limbs that fell on the Quad.
The thunderstorms, strong winds and lightning got "scary" at times, said Centri-Kid parent chaperone Nancy Cobb of Gardendale, Ala. But she's very thankful that hundreds of MC's campers are all safe. Their five days of camp were winding up Friday. The campers and parents would be piling into buses to return home.
For the past two months, Baptist-affiliated MC has welcomed nearly 10,000 campers from 14 Southern states.
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