PEARL, Miss. (WJTV) – The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) provided an update on relief efforts after the March 24 severe storms.

MEMA, FEMA and the American Red Cross will hold a series of Town Hall meetings next week to keep severe weather victims up to date with information and federal recovery resources. The locations and dates are as follows:

• Rolling Fork – Tuesday, April 11 at 5:30 p.m. at South Delta Elementary School at 138 Weathers Avenue
• Silver City – Wednesday, April 12 at 5:30 p.m. at the Neighborhood Facility Building at 501 North Hayden Street
• Winona – Thursday, April 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the Zion District Association Building at 213 Justy Street

FEMA may refer applicants to apply for assistance through the SBA. Applicants may be eligible for additional benefits through FEMA by applying for an SBA Loan.

The Mississippi Insurance Department encourages anyone with complaints about their insurance company to call the Consumer Services Line at 1-800 -562-2957

The following centers will be closed on Sunday, April 9:

• Carroll County – JZ George High School at 900 George Street
• Humphreys County – Humphreys County Library at 105 Hayden Street
• Monroe County – Justice Court Building at 1619 Highway 25
• Sharkey County – Heritage Manor at 431 West Race Street

The Mississippi Department of Education has been working with the seven school districts impacted by the March 24 tornado. These include Amory, Carroll County, Humphreys County, Monroe County, New Albany, South Delta and Winona-Montgomery. All districts except for South Delta and Amory have resumed school.  

Amory is expected to resume school on April 11. South Delta’s reopening date has not yet been determined. The district is awaiting actions from external providers including a structural engineer, roofers and cleaning services before it can set a reopening date. 

Under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, children and youth displaced by natural disasters meet the definition of homeless and are eligible for McKinney-Vento services. Districts are required to receive evacuated students due to the recent tornado: 

• District shall immediately enroll these students as homeless, regardless of access to birth certificates, vaccination records and other documents. 
• Districts shall complete the same homeless documentation that would be required for a student who is homeless. As part of this documentation, it should be noted that the child has evacuated due to the tornadoes. 

For questions about how to effectively identify, enroll or serve students who are homeless due to the tornadoes, contact the Mississippi Department of Education’s State Homeless Coordinator, LaDewayne Harris at laharris@mdek12.org. 

The American red Cross will provide community lunch on Sunday, April 9 at the following locations:

• In Rolling Fork from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at South Delta Middle School at 86 Middle School Road.
• In Yazoo City from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Hampton Inn at 2162 Grand Avenue.
• In Silver City from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Silver City Post Office at 63 West Street.
• In Greenville from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Days Inn, Express Way Inn at 2500 Highway 82E.
• In Amory from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Old Amory at 101 Soth 9th Street.

Sharkey County officials have announced the Community Distribution site at the Sharkey-Issaquena Academy at 272 Academy Drive has reached capacity for donated items. They are asking people to hold off on donating goods until a new location can be announced.

Those in need can still visit the Community Distribution Site to receive non-perishable food, household supplies, personal hygiene items, water, ice and a hot meal. Volunteers are still needed to operate this site.

The Mississippi Department of Employment Security has opened a new temporary service location for Carrollton at the JZ George Gym at 900 George Street Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

The most needed donations are nonperishable food and drinks (caffeinated and sports, too), hygiene products, laundry detergent, baby items (formula and diapers) and paper products.

Donations can be dropped off at the following locations: