Mississippi gets ready to repair highway collapse from Ida

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi will soon start rebuilding a section of highway that collapsed during torrential rainfall brought by Hurricane Ida. Two people were killed and nine were injured Aug. 30 as seven vehicles plunged, one after another, into a deep pit that opened up on the dark stretch of Mississippi Highway 26 near Lucedale. One of the injured people died in a hospital Sept. 11. Department of Transportation Director Brad White says a geotechnical review is finished, and the department will choose a company early next month to repair the damage for about $1.2 million. He says the highway could reopen in about 45 days.