Due to the winter storm that blew into Oxford Sunday evening, the Oxford Board of Aldermen signed a proclamation Tuesday designating a local state of emergency.

The board found that “conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property” were caused by the storm that dropped several inches of ice and snow in and around the city.

Approving the proclamation of a local state of emergency allows the city to quickly respond to the needs of citizens, reassign personnel, and deploy vehicles, trucks, and equipment to respond to the incident.

“We need to declare a local state of emergency to apply for funding and get reimbursement for any expenditures in dealing with the storm,” said Mayor Robyn Tannehill during the meeting.

Gov. Tate Reeves issued a State of Emergency for Mississippi on Sunday.

The Mississippi State of Emergency acts similarly for state agencies and allows the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to move assets throughout the state to support local governments in preparation for, response to, and recovery from the impending weather.

Also, during the meeting, the mayor thanked the city employees for their hard work during the storm.

“We have the best employees in the state,” she said. “I couldn’t be more thankful.”

She said after speaking with local police and Emergency Management that the roads are expected to be bad today in Oxford after some of the snow and ice melted Tuesday and then refroze overnight.

“Our crews have been working all day long,” she said Tuesday. “They cleared a lot on North and South Lamar (boulevards) and started on University Avenue but had a hard time making much of a difference there.”

The mayor said crews will be back out on the roads today to clear what they can.