Ole Miss gets another $4.5 million for winter storm recovery

The University of Mississippi received another $4.5 million in federal funding on July 20 to reimburse costs from the severe winter storm, adding more money to a cleanup effort that reached deep into Oxford and Lafayette County.

That federal payment follows a February move by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning board, which approved up to $10 million in winter storm cleanup at Ole Miss. University leaders said at the time the work would cover tree removal and other debris cleanup on the Oxford campus, the kind of visible repair bill that can run through a university budget long after the weather clears.

The recovery stretched beyond campus. By April 20, crews in Lafayette County were still clearing massive amounts of storm debris, and tree debris from the ice storm was being delivered to the county’s drop-off site in Abbeville. A few weeks earlier, on March 30, the Mississippi Department of Transportation had begun advertising debris-removal projects for bid after delays tied to federal requirements, with bids set to open April 17 and work expected to begin April 28.

The July 12 update that Oxford and the university both received FEMA funds showed the recovery dollars were flowing to more than one local recipient. For Ole Miss, the reimbursement helps close the gap between what the university had to spend immediately after the storm and what federal disaster aid can later cover.

That matters in Lafayette County because Ole Miss is one of the area’s biggest employers and a major customer for local businesses. It also means the most obvious signs of recovery should keep appearing around town before colder weather returns, including fewer damaged trees on campus, more debris hauled away in Lafayette County and additional cleanup along the roads that connect Oxford, Abbeville and the rest of north Mississippi. The storm left behind a long administrative trail as well as a physical one, and the July 20 reimbursement shows that federal money is still catching up with the damage months later.