The Backwater Is Not Going To Get Much Worse

But it’s not going to get much better anytime soon.

A public meeting this afternoon of Levee Board Officials in Cary, Mississippi included a sizable group of citizens and officials discussed the ongoing Backwater Flood.

The flood waters in the front yard.

The Mississippi River at Vicksburg is on its 102nd day above flood stage and the river is falling, slowly.  When the river is falling the gates can be opened at the Steele Bayou control structure.  Opening those gates will drain the flood out of the backwater.  When the Mississippi River is on the rise those gates will have to be closed.

The rise of the river will not cause the backwater to rise but it will stop the draining of the backwater.

Another road in the backwater under water.

The gates will probably close in the next week when the river starts to rise, again.  The river is projected to rise to 51.5 feet on the 9th of June-that will probably change a time or two as the rains up north come on down the Mississippi River. The current projection says it will drop to 49 feet over the following 28 days. Therefore the river will be at 49 feet on July 9th under the current projection.

Bill Newsom said, ‘you will never forget the Backwater Flood of 2019.  This is historic.’

One of the local citizen attending, Eddie Hatcher, pleaded with and reminded his neighbors that working together and helping each other is the only way to survive.  He summed up working together best when he said ‘it’s a cinch by the inch and hard by the yard’.