NATCHEZ — The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency will be in the area today to do preliminary damage assessments in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaac.

Adams County Emergency Management Director Stan Owens told the Adams County Board of Supervisors Tuesday the assessments will look at any infrastructure that was damaged during the storm, and County Road Manager Robbie Dollar said debris removal will begin in full once the assessments are complete.

Once cleanup is under way, the county has three staging sites for the removal of debris, one on Foster Mound Road, one near Liberty Road and one near the Natchez-Adams County port, Dollar said.

Owens told the supervisors in all the storm generated an excess of 200 calls for service to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and the Natchez Police Department.

All power was restored to Adams County by Monday afternoon — the storm struck late last Wednesday — and Emergency Management is only aware of 10 homes that suffered significant damage due to the storm, Owens said.

While the state disaster declaration does not allow for individual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Adams County, Owens said some Mississippi counties have been approved and he would push for it even though he was not sure Adams County would be eligible for it.

Those who may need FEMA assistance should register at www.fema.gov in case individual assistance does become available, Owens said.

In other news:

4Adams County Chancery Clerk Tommy O’Beirne said the deadline to redeem back taxes for the year 2009 had been extended until Friday by decree of the governor because Tropical Storm Isaac forced many local government offices to close.

The deadline cannot be extended beyond Friday, O’Beirne said.

-The supervisors voted to formally accept the FEMA-approved county hazard mitigation program, something President Darryl Grennell said had to be done for the county to be eligible to receive any federal mitigation funds.

-Natchez Children’s Home Executive Director Nancy Hungerford and Children’s Advocacy Center Director Glenda Wilson appeared before the board to request an appropriation of $20,000 for the CAC.

The center, which has the goal of reducing stress on children who have been abused by reducing the number of times they have to be interviewed, opened earlier this year. Through a video feed, a team of law enforcement, prosecutors and children’s advocates are all able to watch forensic interviews at the center in real time while the victim of an alleged crime only has to speak to one person, a certified forensic interviewer.

Prior to the opening of the CAC, children had to be transported to a similar facility in McComb.

“Keep in mind that we are saving the county a lot of money by not having to run these children to McComb,”

Hungerford said. “We have done 20 interviews so far, and every one of those children is from Adams County.”

Like the children’s home, the CAC is funded largely through donations.

Grennell said the board would discuss what could be done for the CAC in the upcoming fiscal year with County Administrator Joe Murray.

-The board met in executive session to discuss the acquisition of property, industrial prospects, litigation and personnel.