Supervisors hear from emergency director on recent storms

Photo: The view from the Hernando DeSoto River Park on Monday, April 7. The park is being closed until further notice due to high water from the Mississippi River. (Credit: DeSoto County Government on Facebook)

April 7, 2025 – If you were sheltered in your unincorporated DeSoto County area home over the recent “generational” rainfall that flowed through DeSoto County this past weekend and wondered why you weren’t hearing storm sirens from the Outdoor Warning Sirens, Emergency Services Director Chris Olson said there’s a reason for that. Outdoor warning sirens are just that: for being outdoors. 

“They’re designed so that when you’re outside of your home doing yard work or things like that, it may give you an extra avenue to understand that there may be something coming,” he said. “They’re not really designed to be heard inside of a home. If you can hear inside the home, that’s great. But not everyone is going to be able to do that.”

In today’s age of technology there are many ways to receive warnings for your particular area and residents are constantly being reminded to not rely on simply one source to get severe weather information. 

Olson told supervisors Monday morning that some people had commented on social media during the storms and the aftermath about why they weren’t hearing the sirens.  He said they were working and are regularly checked for functionality.  

“We test our sirens every Thursday at 12 noon,” Olson said. “Some of the cities test theirs on Saturdays. But we also do a silent test on Mondays where the computer talks back and forth to get the health or status of the siren.” 

Between the cities and the county, there are more than 50 warning sirens placed countywide, with 28 sirens situated in the unincorporated area. Each has a range of 1-3 miles in diameter to be heard when they start their blaring noise.  

The Emergency Services Director reported that during the four-day time period, DeSoto County was under four tornado watches, one each day of the time period, Wednesday through Saturday. The county now has been under nine tornado watches for the entire year up to present time.  

Last week, there was one flood advisory, one flood warning, and 10 of the 12 flash flood warnings in the county this year took place during the four-day time frame.  

Out of 33 thunderstorm warnings covering DeSoto County so far in 2025, 20 were issued last weekend and there were five tornado warnings.  

Fortunately, DeSoto County had no reported injuries and there have been no fatalities as a result of the storms.  

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Monday said the storms have resulted in one fatality in Jasper County and seven injuries.  MEMA says it has received reports of 14 damaged homes in DeSoto County, part of a statewide total of 274 homes, four businesses, and nine farms damaged across 20 counties. 

Of the statewide homes affected, 50 were destroyed, while 53 sustained major damage. These figures are subject to change as further evaluations are conducted. 

MEMA has filled requests for 2,000 sandbags, 530 tarps, 4,000 bottles of water, and more than 500 MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) for counties.

The rain has raised river levels and the level of the water at Arkabutla Dam, which has seen an increase of 20.9 feet up to 226.32 feet as of Monday morning.  

The Coldwater River has gone up 6.94 feet at Holly Springs and up 9.38 feet at Highway 78. The Mississippi River has gone up over 18.5 feet at Memphis and Tunica since April 2.  

For that reason, Environmental Services/Parks and Greenways Director Ray Laughter told supervisors he was about to close off the Hernando DeSoto River Park and likely not reopen it until about the beginning of next month because of the flooded entrances. 

Among the roads still underwater as of midday Monday are Highway 61 from Church to Starlanding roads, Delta View and Kaitlyn Drive are blocked at both entries, Church Road and Highway 61, Blythe Road north of Highway 61, Sanders between the railroad tracks and Highway 61, and all routes to Bass Landing (Hernando DeSoto River Park) are still shut down with no lake drops able to be completed.