MSU Sends Personnel, Equipment to Aid USM

MSU Sends Personnel, Equipment to Aid USM

Mississippi State University Campus Operations and MSU Extension Service personnel prepare to depart Monday for the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg to assist in clean-up of the campus. USM's campus took a direct hit during a series of tornadoes across south Mississippi on Sunday, February 10. Responding to a request for assistance from the University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi State University sent MSU personnel and equipment to help in the clean-up of the USM campus after the Hattiesburg school took a direct hit from tornadoes that ravaged South Mississippi on Sunday [Feb. 10] afternoon. MSU Extension Service personnel have also been deployed. After discussions with USM interim president Aubrey Lucas and Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds, MSU President Mark E. Keenum said 11 MSU Campus Operations personnel and two MSU staffers skilled in damage assessment departed the MSU Starkville campus shortly before 3 p.m. Keenum said the MSU personnel were equipped with chain saws, generators, a portable light tower, a truck and trailer, and fuel and maintenance supplies necessary to be self-sufficient. After the widespread storms of April 27, 2011 leveled the town of Smithville and caused extensive damage in Chickasaw and Webster counties, MSU Extension personnel responded. MSU also provided assistance on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in the wake of that same series of storms.