Two Dead in Storm-Related MS Highway Collapse

Aug. 31—The 911 call came in from a couple whose car had plunged some 20 to 30 feet to the thick, red dirt ground below them.

Their car had just hit a 75-foot span of Highway 26 in George County that washed away in heavy rain from Hurricane Ida.

Still in shock, the man told dispatchers they needed help.

"He really had no clue what had happened to them," George County Sheriff Keith Havard said Tuesday afternoon. "He said he was driving, and all of a sudden he wasn't driving anymore.

"He didn't understand what had happened. I can't imagine anyone would."

As the caller spoke, 911 dispatchers listened as one vehicle after another crashed into the same deep hole.

In all, seven vehicles slammed to the ground, many stacking up one on top of the other, Mississippi Highway Patrol Trooper Calvin Robertson said.

"It's tragic, and a lot of questions are going to have to be answered," Harvard said Tuesday. "I think there was just too much rain and not enough drainage. It looks like a lake blew out."

Two people died and 10 others were injured when the road collapsed about 10 p.m. Monday.

George County deputies and firefighters arrived at the scene first, and soon other first responders arrived.

Authorities made their way in rain down the side of deep hole to get to the victims, with some using the Jaws of Life to remove people.

They formed a human chain up the side of the 30-foot drop and passed one person after another until they reached the top of the hill for transport to hospitals for treatment.

Some of them were lifted out on stretchers.

Authorities used heavy equipment to pull the vehicles from the wreckage site, and the response continued overnight and throughout the day Monday.

Many residents have reached out to authorities in George County to demand answers from officials at the Mississippi Department of Transportation about how such a washout could happen, leaving them to grieve so many in their tight-knit community. The area has been drenched with rain and floodwater for days.

Coroner DeeAnn Murrrah identified the dead as Larry Lee, 49, of Lucedale, and Kent Brown, 49, of Leakesville.

Among the others still in critical condition is a student from George County High School.

On Monday afternoon, Havard said, the sheriff's department was already mourning the loss of all involved, including Lee, who was a relative of a sheriff's department employee.

"We've known him in the community ... and he has family who work at the regional jail," Havard said. "It's heartbreaking to see a member of the sheriff's office have a family be involved in such a tragedy and our prayers go out to all involved."

Meanwhile, Havard and others in the community want answers.

"Everybody in the community is going to have questions," Havard said. "Why did this take place? This is something that is going to have to be answered by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. They are going to have to find out what caused it so it never happens again."

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