When a severe thunderstorm swept through Columbus on Thursday evening, all Marian Hazard could think about was the deviled eggs.
“We had loaded the refrigerator with 1,200 deviled eggs, barbecue and chicken salad for 500 and potato salad for 300,” Hazard said. “When the power went out, my heart stopped.”
Hazard, a parishioner at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and resident of College Street, was one of 8,000 without power in the city on Thursday evening. Her home’s windows were broken with water pouring into them, the fountain in her yard was smashed and a downed transformer was laying in her driveway.
A preliminary weather report from the National Weather Service said straight line winds during the storm reached 60 miles per hour, and hail ranged from the size of peas to the size of half dollars.
Still, Hazard’s chief concern was her church’s annual May Luncheon Friday, which she and other parishioners had been working on for weeks. All of the food for the luncheon was sitting in the church’s refrigerators down the road, which were now without power.
Hazard said the church received word from Columbus Light and Water that power may not come on until the next morning, which caused a few parishioners to spring into action, including John Davis and Bridget Pieschel.
“A group of parishioners came together and were trying to figure out how quickly they could work with Columbus Light and Water, given the special circumstances of trying to keep all this food we had been working on from going bad,” St. Paul’s Episcopal Church priest Rev. Andrew McLarty told The Dispatch Friday.
Pieschel said her van, parked on College Street, had been hit by a falling tree, which meant that she couldn’t actually drive to the church. But another parishioner drove her to St. Paul’s to check on the food inside.
Davis said the parishioners then attempted to purchase or borrow generators that could be used to keep all of the church’s refrigerators going. Unfortunately, nothing was available that could power the fridges without also creating fumes that would not be safe for the food.
Instead, Davis said, the parishioners packed the fridges full of ice from local gas stations.
“We shut the doors and prayed,” Davis said.
But while the parishioners were working to preserve the food, CLW crews were working as well. Pieschel said that the tree was moved off her van extremely quickly, and power was restored to the church by 9:30 p.m.
“I can’t say enough good things about Columbus Light and Water and the City of Columbus, out literally minutes later,” Pieschel said. “They did such a good job.”
Because of the quick response, Hazard said, none of the food was at risk.
“The temperature inside the refrigerators never dropped,” Hazard said.
Pieschel called the May Luncheon “one for the history books.”
McLarty called the May Luncheon a “big success,” and told The Dispatch Friday afternoon that the church sold out of almost everything it had made.
The storm
During a meeting of county agencies Friday morning, Lowndes County Emergency Management Agency Director Cindy Lawrence said the county declared a local state of emergency on Thursday night to help get power restored as fast as possible.
“The power companies definitely needed assistance with restoring power,” Lawrence said. “There were so many of the lines down and so many power poles that were broken and so many had fallen, that they really needed assistance. We wanted people to get their power restored as soon as possible.”
Most of the damage, Lawrence told The Dispatch, was focused around the Mississippi University for Women campus, including Ninth, 10th and College streets. Some damage was also reported on Northside and in East Columbus.
No storm-related injuries were reported.
Verdell said electrical crews from Starkville and Amory also responded to help with restoring power to the city and clearing debris from the roads. While 8,000 were out of power Thursday night, as of 9:30 a.m. Friday, only 346 CLW customers remained in the dark. Workers were still trying to restore power to some areas by press time.
Columbus Fire and Rescue Chief Duane Hughes said his firefighters responded to nine storm-related fires Thursday that had been started by lightning strikes and power surges.
“We continue to respond to calls even at this moment as the power comes back on to surges and other instances that are electrical related,” Hughes said. “And we’re responding to those individuals that got out in public and decided they wanted to go look and see the storm damage, and their vehicles are getting tangled in power lines.”
Lawrence said the county is continuing to work to remove trees from roadways and other public areas, but trees downed on private property must be removed by the homeowners, unless there is a life safety concern that requires first responders to clear the way.
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones said he is working on a declaration for the city, saying that if homeowners can get the trees and brush to the curb, the city will pick it up.
“If they can get it to the roads, the city will assist in picking it up,” Jones told The Dispatch.
Lawrence said the county is still assessing the damage from the storm to see if it qualifies for FEMA relief. The local threshold is $270,843 of damage for funding, she said.
“If we don’t meet the threshold, we’ll be on our own,” Lawrence said.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
