The threat of a snow storm didn’t scare Lina Semmar.
The freshman studying sports management at the University of Mississippi grew up in New England. It was ordinary to get a lot of snow — even multiple inches — overnight during the winter.
After campus officials emailed students late last week about safety plans and preparation for the impending winter storm, Semmar stocked up on snacks like microwavable macaroni and cheese bowls and bags of potato chips. She tried using Instacart, a grocery pickup mobile app, for groceries, but many items were out of stock.
Everyone was being dramatic, she recalled thinking. She was certain the snow wouldn’t stick and class would resume Tuesday morning.
“But ice is a whole different ball game,” Semmar said.
Ice, a lingering hazard from the storm, is why roadways across hard-hit areas of the state remain treacherous and tens of thousands of Mississippi residents remain without power.
On Wednesday, UM officials announced on Facebook that the university will remain closed until Feb. 8 — two weeks after the storm.
The university’s Oxford campus, as well other parts of Lafayette County, are experiencing “down trees and powerlines, falling ice and hazardous road conditions,” the statement notes. The student union is operating as a warming center for students and employees.
Other Mississippi colleges and universities are experiencing similar challenges because of the weather.
Credit: Lina SemmarOfficials at Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorhead, for example, announced on Facebook that the campus will remain closed through Thursday because of the weather and widespread power outages. Northwest Mississippi Community College, in Senatobia, will remain closed through Friday because of ongoing freezing temperatures and hazardous road conditions. Mississippi Valley State University, in Itta Bena, is slated to open Monday “pending improved conditions and power restoration.”
Semmar is among the Mississippi college students who found themselves reeling from the storm’s aftermath, as residence halls and other campus buildings lost power. Some buildings with back-up generators have intermittently gained and lost electricity throughout the week.
Fallen trees and powerlines blocked campus streets and roadways in the northern part of the state, making it difficult for students to leave campus during the first few days since the storm. Students who stayed on campus may have had difficulty getting food. Aside from power outages, the icy roads meant food service staff and other workers could not safely travel to work.
Encountering hazards after the storm
On Saturday night, when snowfall first hit UM’s Oxford campus, it was mainly slush, Semmar said.
She and her friends were walking across campus that night when they ran into university police. Campus police told them that a powerline near Northgate Drive had fallen. Multiple patrol cars blocked the main street, and officers warned they needed to return to their dorms quickly for safety. It wasn’t until her dorm, Crosby Hall, lost power Sunday morning that Semmar began to panic.
Credit: Jack Leslie“Everything just escalated overnight,” she said.
Jack Leslie, an Ole Miss freshman studying public health, considers himself one of the “lucky ones.”
When the ice storm hit the campus Saturday night, Leslie’s Residential College South dorm lost power briefly. His building was one of the first to have power restored.
Leslie had also gone to Kroger with friends to stock up on food and groceries before the storm.
Campus officials had prepared for Rebel Market, a dining hall, to be the main source for meals — burgers, salad and other items — during the storm recovery, and meal plans are not required. But, it took hours for Leslie and his friends to get food.
“There were just insanely long lines for everything,” Lesile said.
Jacob Batte, a spokesman for Ole Miss, said volunteers served 3,200 meals to students on Sunday at Rebel Market, a campus dining option.
Even walking across campus has felt dangerous to Leslie. Collapsed trees, ice and debris have fallen on cars and buildings, even blocking walkways in The Grove, a grassy greenspace at the center of campus.
“They were even warning us not to walk over there because there were falling tree limbs and ice,” Leslie said. “It was heartbreaking to see.”
Leslie decided to leave the campus. He and his older sister, who lives in Oxford, called their father to pick them up Tuesday evening. They went home to Grenada to stay with their parents.
The January 2026 winter storm caused power outages and other damage in Oxford, Miss., including the campus of the University of Mississippi. Credit: University of Mississippi Digital Imaging ServicesSemmar also decided to leave campus. After spending days struggling to find warm food, she told her mother she planned to brave the roads and drive home to Chattanooga, Tennessee. She made plans to pack and leave Tuesday afternoon.
Before the trip, Semmar took her Stanley tumbler, a steel insulated cup, to her car’s windshield to break off nearly two inches of ice. She blasted the car’s defroster.
“I needed to go home,” Semmar said. “I need three meals a day, warm water and to be in the comfort of my family because I didn’t even know what would happen next.”
While pulling out of the campus parking lot, she saw helicopters flying overhead. She took it as a hopeful sign, that “things are starting getting better,” and resources are on their way, she said.
Gov. Tate Reeves had signed an executive order Monday to deploy the National Guard to aid in storm recovery efforts in the state.
“Oxford is such a tight-knit community,” Semmar said, “and seeing how everyone is rallying together around this situation makes me grateful.”
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