‘Don’t turn them away.’ Hurricane Ida survivors say they couldn’t enter a South MS city
Poplarville city leaders heard more complaints Wednesday about a firefighter restricting residents from entering the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
Mayor Louise Smith and members of the Board of Alderman discussed the incident during a special meeting Wednesday, but took no action other than to consider a recommendation to bring in additional law enforcement officers to help with traffic flow.
The meeting was scheduled in the aftermath of a public outcry from nearby Wiggins resident Tasha Johnson, who said a firefighter directing traffic told her she and her son could not enter the city Tuesday because “I didn’t live in the city.”
Johnson was attempting to take her son to an occupational therapy appointment. When she asked why she couldn’t enter the city, she said the firefighter told her, “’because if I say you can’t come in, then you can’t come in.’”
She said the firefighter was redirecting traffic out of the city to Interstate 59 south back to Louisiana. Many of the motorists are driving through the area from hurricane-battered cities, where gas, groceries are other essential supplies are limited or out of stock.
Her complaints caught the attention of the Board and hundreds of others after Johnson shared what had happened to her in a public Facebook post.
The post has been shared hundreds of times and prompted similar complaints from other drivers.
Johnson refused to back down and got out of her vehicle and questioned the firefighter repeatedly until another law enforcement officer stopped and the firefighter left. Johnson got her son to the therapy appointment but is outraged by what happened to her and others.
Johnson said she took her complaints to the mayor’s office Tuesday, but the mayor later said that people were being turned away because there was no gas available for motorists in the city.
However, the mayor said that evening that there had been some misinformation going on around and gas was available.
Another Poplarville resident, Mona Hall Seals, told the Board she saw Johnson’s message and later received similar complaints from others who were turned away.
The drivers, she said, had to show their license to confirm their residency, and others had to drop the name of people in high-ranking positions in the area to get through.
“I’m totally heartbroken we have a resident of our city behaving that way, and it’s being condoned,” Seals said. “I don’t care who they were. Don’t turn them away. We were those people in 2016. We went all over to get what we needed to survive.”
Johnson also attended Wednesday’s meeting and expressed her surprise over how ill-prepared city officials appeared to be for the meeting just like they were for the influx of traffic from storm victims.
“I could only imagine what Louisiana residents are going through and how they are feeling because this person took it upon himself to make people feel unworthy of coming into their city,” Johnson said. “They are not out of gas and the mayor tried to use that as the reason for the firefighter making them go back south.
“They could’ve directed them north, put up a sign saying no gas, reported it to the news/radio stations or something. This was not the way to handle this situation.”
Johnson told city leaders they need to reconsider their response to storm victims.
“You should welcome them with open arms and be hospitable to these people,” Johnson said. “Let’s not forget that 16 years ago we were in that same situation and some was there to help you. “
Johnson and Seals said they felt the city should have known there would be a large influx of traffic in the aftermath of the storm that devastated cities so close to Poplarville.
Board members said public safety was an issue because traffic was backed up at the interstate exits to get into the city.
But Seals and other said business owners were upset because they still had supplies, including gas, when the drivers were being redirected out of the city.
“We need the revenue,” Seals told alderman. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, just sit down and shut up. We need the money. If we don’t have enough room on the interstate, send them to the parking lot of one of the empty buildings around here. We suffered a big black eye with this situation. Poplarville do better and just be kind.”
This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 1:39 PM.
