More rain hits flooded southern states

RIDGELAND, Miss. — More heavy rain hit parts of the flood-ravaged South on Tuesday, prolonging the misery for people who still can’t get back into homes surrounded by water. Some of the hardest-hit areas were under a flash flood watch, as the National Weather Service said as much as 2 inches of rain, and even more in some spots, fell in central Mississippi.

The national Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md., projected the greatest likelihood of heavy rain in a band from eastern Louisiana across central parts of Mississippi and Alabama extending into far west Georgia.

Authorities around Mississippi’s capital city, Jackson, warned hundreds of residents not to return home until they get an all-clear after devastating flooding Monday.

The receding flood left muddy water marks on the sides of cars at the Harbor Pines Mobile Home Community in suburban Ridgeland, not far from where managers of the Ross Barnett Reservoir have been trying to contain the swollen Pearl River. Water still surrounded dozens of trailer homes Tuesday, but the water level had fallen 2 feet or more since Monday.

Meanwhile, on the Gulf Coast, water draining toward the ocean cut off a neighborhood on the Tensaw River in Baldwin County, Ala., where residents had to use boats to get to homes, news outlets reported. The Mobile River is forecast to crest more than 4 feet above flood level this weekend north of Mobile.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency that directed state agencies to assist with recent flooding.

(AP/Regelio V. Solis) Ridgeland, Miss., police Cpl. Russell Dukette patrols the Harbor Pines mobile home community Tuesday, where flooding from the Pearl River has slowly started receding.