Majestic live oaks were hit hard by MS Coast tornado. Will the Moss Point trees survive?

After Hurricane Katrina, people wanted to know if the Friendship Oak in Long Beach made it through the storm. Now people are asking if the massive live oaks on Lovers Lane in Moss Point survived Monday’s tornado.

There’s good news and bad news, as there is with homes and businesses throughout the city.

Most of the centuries-old trees are still standing, although piles of branches that fell from them are stacked six feet deep, even after some large limbs were removed over the last few days.

At least one of the oaks was uprooted in the storm and a lot more sunlight filters through the tree canopy with so many of the tree tops stripped of their leaves or severely pruned by the winds.

The tornado damaged six square miles of Moss Point as it roared through the city from northwest to southeast said Earl Etheridge, director of Jackson County Emergency Services

Gov. Tate Reeves arrived in Moss Point Thursday morning to survey the aftermath of the EF-2 storm and its 130 mph winds that damaged or destroyed more than 200 homes and businesses along with many trees.

Reeves told local officials the state will provide every resource possible for the people who lost their homes and businesses. Whether the city gets a federal disaster declaration depends on the tally of damage.

“It’s a federal law and it’s all driven by those damage assessments,” Reeves said. He expects to know in the next day or two if Moss Point has a high enough dollar amount of damage to get the declaration.

Etheridge and other officials said Wednesday that the damage in Jackson County is expected to top $10 million. The threshold for federal help is $4.5 million.

Trees are part of Moss Point history

For Moss Point, known as The River City and for its majestic trees, the damage to the trees is as tangible as the roofs that blew off and the windows that shattered.

“All of it adds up to who we really are,” said Mayor Billy Knight, who has enlisted the help of fellow Rotarians Mark LaSalle, this year’s Rotary president, and Dave Minkler, a certified arborist, to assess the damage to the trees.

They’ve already been working together for three years to grow the tree canopy in Moss Point, LaSalle said, and the tornado gave them more work to do.

Under a new program they call “River City Main Street Greenway,” they’ve begun planting trees along Main Street — the epicenter of the tornado, said Jackson County Supervisor Ennit Morris, who lives in Moss Point.

The rebuilding of Main Street began right away, as power crews quickly replaced the poles that snapped in the hurricane.

“That was a sight to see,” said Dane Maxwell, Public Service Commissioner for the Southern district, as crews from across the Coast and the state were lined up down Main Street replacing the poles.

“Everybody that can take power has power,” he said Thursday.

Will the live oaks survive?

LaSalle said the live oaks on Lovers Lane and throughout Moss Point will need special care if they are going to survive and thrive after the tornado damage.

Through restoration pruning, he said, the tops of the live oaks can be cut back to where they are stable and they will recover.

It’s the same principle as cutting the crepe myrtles, he said, but must be done by a professional.

Pollarding should be used on live oaks, LaSalle said, and not on water oaks, like the one that fell and destroyed the Rotary building. The weakened water oaks should be cut down, he said.

Lots of tree services are in Moss Point since Monday, cutting and hauling the trees and branches that fell.

Crews will begin making the rounds Monday to haul away debris, the mayor said.

Everyone has a story

Although no lives were lost in the tornado, Moss Point is hurting.

“I’m homeless and I wanted to see what they have to say,” said Lester Wells, who huddled on the floor with his wife and prayed as the hurricane ripped into their home. He was there when the governor arrived in town.

Like after Katrina, everyone has a story — the owner of a daycare who was in the building doing paperwork when the building was destroyed, a man in the next building who had a dumpster land on top of him, the person who went to see the fate of the osprey nests at the ballpark and found one adult bird dead and the others circling overhead and crying out for their babies that disappeared in the winds of the storm.

One of the adult birds with an injured wing was rescued and two died when the nests were destroyed, Moss Point Police said in a Facebook post.

Crews of volunteers are already at Moss Point, like the Mercy Chefs who came from Virginia to feed victims of the storm. Ocean Springs will be cooking lunch tomorrow for their sister city.

“We’re really grateful for what they are doing,” said Alderwoman Shirley Dubose Chambers, who said she hopes the efforts will help the people in her ward and city who were displaced or lost everything.