Disaster help center in Oxford closes May 23 for storm recovery

Residents in Lafayette County and Panola County have one more week to sit down with FEMA, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration in Oxford before the disaster recovery center closes May 23. The walk-in center is in the Mississippi State Extension Office building at the Lafayette County Multipurpose Arena, 70 F.D. Buddy East Parkway, and it is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 2 p.m. Saturday. No appointment is needed.

The center opened April 27, with regular hours starting April 28, after the severe winter storm that swept Mississippi from Jan. 23 through Jan. 27 and led to a major federal disaster declaration on Feb. 6 under DR-4899-MS, Winter Storm Fern. FEMA’s designated counties for Individual Assistance include Lafayette and Panola, and FEMA later expanded Public Assistance eligibility on Feb. 17 to add both counties among 18 newly eligible Mississippi counties.

For households still sorting through paperwork, this is the last stretch for face-to-face help with FEMA registration, application status checks, appeals and questions about why an application may have been denied. Officials said the center is also helping residents understand what kinds of damage may qualify for aid. SBA staff can walk homeowners, renters and businesses through low-interest disaster loans, and county officials said volunteer and community organizations may also be on site with referrals for people who need more help.

The recovery center matters because the storm hit north Mississippi hard. Lafayette County government buildings closed Jan. 26 and Jan. 27 because of hazardous road conditions and widespread outages, and local reporting on Jan. 25 said more than 24,000 North East Mississippi Electric Power Association customers and more than 5,000 Oxford Utilities customers were without power. Gov. Tate Reeves later said storm-related deaths had been reported in Lafayette County and Panola County.

Even as the Oxford center winds down, federal aid remains available. The SBA said May 14 that the deadline to apply for low-interest disaster loans for physical damage is June 10, and those loans can be used by homeowners, renters, businesses and certain nonprofit organizations, including churches and food banks. By May 6, SBA representative Julie Garrett said 68 households had already sought help at local centers and nearly $3 million in disaster loans had been approved statewide. For residents still dealing with cleanup, repairs and storm damage months later, the Oxford site is the final practical chance to get in-person guidance before the doors close.