When the weather came through over the weekend, battering Yazooand Holmes counties with winds up to 170 miles per hour, FranklinCounty Tax Assessor Jeff Mullins woke up and told his wife, “I’mgoing to Yazoo City.”

“People need help, and I guess God just said, ‘Go do it,'” he said.”I got a bigger blessing than they did.”

He just picked up and went by himself, Mullins said, but when hegot to Yazoo City, there were other helpers from around the statewho had made the trek as well. Mullins said his team had sevenpeople on it, a few locals and a few from out of town, and theytook work orders for where their services were needed next.

Mullins said he has seen tornado damage before, but that thedevastation from the weekend storms was astounding.

“Man it was just trees on house after house, and a lot of the powerwas still out on one side of Highway 49,” he said. “We startedcleaning up the yards, and there were a lot of people from thecommunity helping.”

He said when volunteers arrived, they would fill out forms thattold what kind of equipment they brought, such as chainsaws or axesor shovels, but that there were some who just brought theirhands.

“They’d say, ‘We can lift and tote,'” he said. “No matter what youhad to offer they had a use for it.”

Meanwhile, Lincoln County Civil Defense Director Clifford Galey andhis wife Cindy also got the call, although theirs came from theMississippi Emergency Management Agency. They joined emergencyworkers and Civil Defense officials from all over the state in theresponse.

“They called us Saturday and asked if we could come once we wereclear of our weather,” Cindy Galey said.

And luckily, Lincoln County missed the really devastating weatherthat hit other areas of the state.

“We were lucky again, it went north of us,” said Clifford Galey.”We did wait until it was cleared almost out of the state until weleft the office.”

While Mullins drove up to Yazoo City and back on the same day, theGaleys went on Saturday and have been there ever since. The firstnight, they slept in their truck, and the second night they were oncots in a tent, Cindy Galey said.

“We did get to sleep in a bed last night, but we’re talking aboutgetting up at 6:30 or 7 in the morning, and working throughsometimes 10 or 11 or 12 o’clock at night,” Clifford Galey said.”We’re still here only because this is the first place we got ourfeet on the ground and figured out what they need up here.”

Other emergency workers have moved on to Holmes and Attalacounties, the Galeys said.

The Galeys said they would be in Yazoo County until things calmdown and the roads are a little more clear.

“It’s going to depend on how things go with the damage assessment,”Clifford Galey said.

In the meantime, from his office in Franklin County, Mullins saidone thing that really moved him during his visit was how muchpeople appreciated the help.

“I just learned that people appreciate the help even if they don’tknow you, it’s a blessing to them to see people from the communityturn out and show them love, wanting to help,” Mullins said.