JACKSON, Miss. — The Mississippi Department of Human Services announced that federal officials have approved mass replacement benefits for current Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients in 15 counties hardest hit by Winter Storm Fern.
According to MDHS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service authorized the automatic issuance of replacement benefits to eligible SNAP households in the designated counties. Residents in those counties do not need to submit a replacement benefits form to receive assistance.
Issuance dates may vary, and clients are encouraged to monitor their SNAP accounts over the next several weeks.
The 15 counties approved for automatic, or mass, replacement benefits are Alcorn, Choctaw, Claiborne, Grenada, Holmes, Humphreys, Lafayette, Montgomery, Panola, Sharkey, Tallahatchie, Tippah, Tishomingo, Yalobusha and Yazoo.
In addition, MDHS said a separate federal waiver extends the deadline to request replacement benefits for SNAP households in 28 other counties affected by the storm. Residents in those counties have until Feb. 23, 2026, to submit a request if they experienced food loss due to the winter weather.
The counties eligible for the extended deadline are Adams, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Coahoma, DeSoto, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jefferson, Lee, Leflore, Lowndes, Madison, Marshall, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Sunflower, Tate, Tunica, Union, Warren, Washington, Webster and Wilkinson.
MDHS officials said replacement benefits are available only to current SNAP recipients and will not exceed the amount of benefits a household normally receives. To qualify, food loss must have resulted from a weather-related power outage lasting more than four hours or from a disaster-related event such as tornadoes, flooding or heavy snow.
The agency emphasized that submitting a replacement benefits attestation is a legal request for assistance and must be truthful and accurate.
Households in the 28 counties must complete the required form to request benefits. Applications can be downloaded and submitted through the secure document upload feature on the MDHS website.
MDHS encouraged residents to visit its website, follow its official social media channels and monitor local news outlets for updates related to Winter Storm Fern.
