Jackson Free Press

The Mississippi River flood crest that everybody's been waiting for is, unfortunately, not the final phase of the drama, Jeffrey Eckstein, Vicksburg District commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told reporters this week.

"The crest is by no means the end of it," Eckstein said.

Truth is, the river spans more than 2,300 miles and has been collecting a lot of water since spring storms inundated the Midwest for more than a month. At normal levels, the river dumps more than 3.3 million gallons of water into the Gulf of Mexico every second, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That kind of mass moves slowly down the Big Muddy: On average the river flows between 3 and 10 miles an hour. When flooded, the Mississippi moves slightly faster, but Eckstein told reporters this week not to expect the water to abandon flood stage until the middle of next month.

The river hit its highest mark in Vicksburg at 57.1 feet yesterday, just shy of 15 feet above flood stage, but lower than the predicted crest of 58 feet. Even though the slight shortfall offered some relief to at-risk homeowners, vulnerable spots in Vicksburg and the territory directly north of it in the Mississippi Delta remain flooded. It will likely stay that way for the rest of the month. The Corps' Vicksburg District does not forecast the river to begin dropping in Vicksburg until May 23, and even then, it will only drop about an inch to 57 feet. The Corps expects the river to drop to only 56.9 feet by May 24.

The Corps reported that the updated forecast, with its lower crest prediction, meant the backwater levees on the Yazoo would likely hold back the swelling water. The Corps warned, however, that the sheer mass of the bloated river was causing general anxiety regarding levee stability.

"The amount of water passing through the system will continue to put tremendous pressure on the levees," the Corps said this week in a statement. "The Corps will continue working with local levee boards in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi monitoring the federal levee system [and?] responding to concerns should they arise."

Corps spokesman Ben Robinson told the Jackson Free Press this morning, however, that the Vicksburg levees "remain strong."

Further south, the city of Natchez is in better shape to weather the 61.9-foot crest the USACE predicts for that section of the state. Natchez spokeswoman Sally Durkin said the city sits high on a bluff overlooking the river, which creates a dry spot for gawkers to see the historic flood. Durkin said tourist-industry businesses under the bluff have placed sandbags that, so far, were keeping the water at bay.

Previous Comments

ID

163599

Comment

It only takes one breach to bring it all down. Levee's are soaked. We pray for the best.

Author

DeGuyz

Date

2011-05-22T13:09:55-06:00