Oxford Spared the Brunt of Ida But Saw High Winds, Heavy Rains

Tropical Storm Ida made its presence known in Lafayette County late Monday with rain and blustery winds occurring throughout the night.

However, the county was spared any severe aftermaths from the storm that devastated parts of the Gulf Coast, particularly in Louisianna.

Lafayette County Emergency Management Director Steve Quarles said he was able to sleep through the night without being called to work due to emergency situations.

“I think we fared pretty well,” Quarles said. “We had about 10 trees down and most were on Highways 30 and 334. No reports of trees on houses. We had one tree that blocked a driveway.

The storm did knock out power in some locations when the storm first hit in Lafayette County. About 25 customers inside the city limits were without power for about three hours. About 1,220 city residents were without power for about two hours Tuesday morning.

North East Mississippi Electric Power Association had about 150 customers out last night and about 350 customers out at noon on Tuesday.

Oxford Utilities was reporting no outages at noon today.

A large tree fell on Monday afternoon on 10^th Street near the First Presbyterian Church.

Lafayette County School District had a two-hour delayed start Tuesday morning. Oxford School District ran on its regular schedule.

While the storms dumped 4 to 6 inches of rain around the county, causing minor flooding on some back roads, most of the roads in Oxford and Lafayette County were clear by the morning.

According to the National Weather Service, cloudy skies are expected to break away to sunshine this afternoon.

Very little rain is expected in Lafayette County over the next few days. The highs will be in the mid-to-high 80s with the lows in the low-to-mid-60s through Labor Day.