Damage minimal in Pearl River County due to Hurricane Zeta

Published 11:26 am Thursday, October 29, 2020

After passing through Pearl River County Wednesday night, damage from Hurricane Zeta appears to be minimal, with damage reported at only four homes and one business so far.

The roof to a large portion of Paw Paws Camper City was blown into the lot during the high winds that Zeta brought. Staff on site said that some water damage occurred.

Residents in the county reported damage to homes in four locations as of Thursday morning, two homes were located on Jackson Landing Road, another was along Highway 43 North and the last was on Mitchel Chapel Road near Poplarville, said Shawn Wise with the Pearl River County Emergency Operations Center.

Sign up for our daily email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

Emergency Management Director Danny Manley said most of the injuries reported as a result of the storm were due to vehicles colliding with trees in the road.

Picayune Mayor Ed Pinero said that by 2 a.m. Thursday city crews had cleared trees from 21 streets. Continued clean up is underway.

City offices in Picayune are closed today due to the storm, as are all three school districts throughout the county.

Poplarville Mayor Rossie Creel reports only minor damage, mostly to trees across the roadways. Crews are currently working on removing a large pecan tree behind Hall’s Service Station and have trees on Cedar Street and Barber Street to cut and remove after that.

No serious damage to homes was reported in Poplarville and very few power outages occurred in that city, Creel said.

All city and county offices in Poplarville are open.

Across the county, reports of trees blocking roads occurred on almost every road, Manley said.

No deaths were reported as being due to Hurricane Zeta countywide.

Miranda Fowler, an evacuee of Hurricanes Laura and Delta, which also struck this year, was staying in Picayune Wednesday night with her grandmother. During the storm a powerline was downed and caused purple sparks near the home she and her two teenagers were staying in. Power was restored to the home by about 2:45 a.m., she said.

“We got screwed by Laura and then Delta took whatever was left then Zeta attacked me here,” Fowler said.