By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
September 17, 2004
A dim fluorescent light hung overhead and a generator chugged in the background as Clarence Westbrook, his green T-shirt soaked with rain, sipped a cup of steaming coffee.
Tropical storm-force winds ripped away part of the tin roof as Westbrook chatted with customers inside the Clarkdale Superette, a gas station in Lauderdale County just north of the Clarke County line.
The Texaco station was ground zero on Thursday for residents from north Clarke County and south Lauderdale County in need of supplies as Hurricane Ivan pounded East Central Mississippi.
Even though the business' 20-year-old Texaco-logo siding was ripped off by wind gusts earlier in the day, the Superette remained one of the few convenience stores open in the area.
Westbrook stopped to take a break from a busy morning in which he helped remove trees that high winds toppled onto back country roads and into yards of residential homes.
County volunteers
Westbrook was among hundreds of volunteers, firefighters, power company employees, law enforcement officers and others who spent the day clearing debris from county roads and residences.
They began work even as the high winds and rain hit the area and the hurricane's center moved inland from Gulf Shores, Ala., toward Montgomery.
In Clarke County, many back roads as well as stretches of major thoroughfares such as U.S. 145, commonly known as Old Highway 45 were impassable because of fallen trees and other debris.
Some barns, fences, small car garages, storage buildings and other structures were destroyed from winds. And hundreds of trees snapped and fell on top of homes and roads.
Justin Brewer, a firefighter with the Clarkdale Volunteer Fire Department, along with three other volunteers, drove through parts of northern Clarke County to help clear debris and trees with a chainsaw.
Brewer said he watched computer models of the storm's track throughout the early morning hours of Thursday. And, he said, he received his first emergency call at about 4:30 a.m. to a tree from a county road.
Power outages
Mike Reich, spokesman for the East Mississippi Electric Power Association which provides power in parts of Lauderdale, Clarke, Kemper and Winston counties said Clarke was one of the hardest hit.
By about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, more than 20,000 EMEPA customers in Clarke and Lauderdale counties were without power. Reich said it could take up to a week to restore power to parts of rural Clarke County, miles away from power substations.
Back up the road at the Clarkdale Superette, a steady stream of customers flooded in the store. The best-selling items of the day: Milk, bread, a box of D-cell batteries and soft drinks.
Jackie Caldwell, owner of the store, sold out of his stock of 400 bags of ice. And by noon, he had made nearly 20 pots of coffee.
The generator he borrowed early in the morning powered a row of fluorescent lights, one cash register and an ice cream box.
Westbrook said he was just happy they had coffee.