Residents displaced by Sunday’s tornado navigated through therelief assistance process Wednesday as family members, volunteerfirefighters and other relief workers helped in the recoveryeffort.

“It’s a first time for everything. You’ve got to have a lot ofpatience,” said Kenny Case said.

Case and his wife Patricia, whose mobile home on Jackson-LibertyRoad was demolished, spoke with Red Cross officials Wednesday atFirst Baptist Church regarding their application forassistance.

“We just want to know what to do,” Patricia Case said.

Since the tornado, the Cases said they spent Sunday and Mondaynights at his mother’s home and Tuesday night at a motel. Washingclothes has been a constant chore.

“We had about 30 bags to wash,” Kenny Case said.

Kenny Case said his boss allowed them to use a shed to storeclothes, and a friend had offered use of a vacant house until theycould find something to rent. The couple had a Wednesday afternoonmeal at the Loyd Star Volunteer Fire Station, which has been thecommand center for volunteer workers since the storm struck.

“I appreciate everything everyone’s done for us,” he said.

Ruth Christy, disaster services volunteer with the Red Cross,said some families had been placed in hotels while others werestaying with relatives. She said the Red Cross had no plans to opena shelter.

“Right now, we’re going to hold off unless we get more people,”Christy said.

Christy said disaster victims seemed to be coping well.

“They’re in good spirits,” Christy said. “They’ve been willingto wait or come back tomorrow or whatever.”

Christy said the Red Cross focuses on providing food, shelterand clothing for storm victims. She said vouchers can covervictims’ hotel expenses for a week or two.

Other items will be addressed by other agencies if a disasterdeclaration is made. Clifford Galey, Lincoln County Civil Defensedirector, said storm information around the state is still becollecting and declarations have not yet been made.

Commenting on reports that someone wearing Red Cross clothingwas selling food to disaster victims, Galey said officials werestill looking into that.

“I have not been able to substantiate that,” said Galey, askingthat anyone who was charged for food come to the Loyd Star stationto report it. “If we can prove it, those people will beprosecuted.”

As flood waters recede elsewhere in the state, officials arefinding more damage.

Joel Clough, Red Cross supervisor, said the agency’sheadquarters will likely be relocated to Jackson. A cooking stationwill remain and a service center will likely be set up inBrookhaven.

“We’re working out the details,” Clough said.

In the Loyd Star community, which felt the brunt of the storm,volunteer firefighters continued efforts to help repair damagedhomes and other property.

“We’ve got people out working on houses, those who can’t do itthemselves,” said Kirk Douglass, Loyd Star volunteerfirefighter.

Galey praised volunteers’ efforts, which have included manningthe command center, collecting donated food for disaster victimsand recovery workers, and helping with clearing road ways followingthe storm.

“We have all the roads open very well except for Old ChurchRoad,” Galey said, mentioning large power line transmission towersthat fell during the storm. “It will probably be closed untilSunday.”

While the area was looking better, Galey said sightseers stillneed to stay away.

“There’s still a lot of debris and a lot of homes damaged, andwe really don’t need sightseers out here,” Galey said.

Power had been restored to most homes by Wednesday and waterservice and pressure was back to normal.

However, Lincoln Rural Water Association General Manager BillWalker said a boil water notice remained in effect. He said watersamples for health department clearance were taken and submittedWednesday.

“We probably won’t know (results) until later this afternoon orfirst thing in the morning,” Walker said Thursday.

In the Jackson-Liberty Road mobile home park where the Caseslived, neighbors burned or buried debris from other homes that weredestroyed by the tornado.

“We’re doing about as well as you can expect,” said JeremyMills.

Mills, his wife Janet and their three-month-old baby werestaying at a hotel with her parents, Roy and Charlotte McGrew, whocame from West Monroe, La., to help.

“When they called, we dropped everything and came this way,” RoyMcGrew said.

McGrew said the family was doing fine and was able to salvage afew things like clothing and sentimental items.

“We can always replace furniture and things like that,” hesaid.

He also commented on how helpful churches and others in thecommunity had been.

“It’s been an abundance of help offered,” McGrew said.