Hurricane Zeta clean up and recovery continues in Pass Christian

It’s been more than two months since Hurricane Zeta made landfall as a category two hurricane, le...  More »

It’s been more than two months since Hurricane Zeta made landfall as a category two hurricane, leaving a trail of destruction here throughout South Mississippi and clean up continues to this day. Some federal assistance is becoming available for local governments in hard hit areas and it may be quite some time before that money actually arrives, but local leaders are embracing any help they can get. First there was COVID and then Tropical Storm Cristobal and then Hurricane Zeta took a parting shot as we rounded out 2020. A triple whammy with reminders of the category two hurricane still around more than two months later and local governments shouldering the burden for clean up and repairs on the front end. Pass Christian Mayor Chipper McDermott said, "They made the Declaration last Friday, and that's good. That means the federal government will reimburse 75-percent and the State 12.5-percent, so the cities will be in it for 12.5-percent as well for the cities, counties and any government entity, but that's good news there." Millions of dollars in damage and debris to clean up with the cost draining city and county coffers, but governments in six South Mississippi counties can now apply to tap into federal disaster assistance to supplement their recovery efforts. Pass Christian is one of them. "You've got to make sure you take care of what money you've got because when things like this come if you don't have it, you're going to have to borrow it to get it up front to be reimbursed. We kind of prepared for it." Local governments throughout South Mississippi are currently in the process of applying for this federal assistance to help with costs, at least on the back end, of Hurricane Zeta clean up and recovery. Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce CEO Adele Lyons said, "We should see now the cities and the counties being able to apply for funds for infrastructure damage that was done. We've seen a lot of piers and harbors that have been damaged due to Zeta." "What you see here, you can almost see in every nearby town. We're all in the same boat, whether you're big or small, everybody's trying to clean up from this Hurricane. Everybody's done a good job. It just takes a little longer than some people want."  « Less