Mississippi struggles as flood enters its 4th month

HOLLY BLUFF, Miss. — Larry Walls should have been out working in his fields last week. Instead, his tractor is parked on high ground, just beyond the reach of the ever-encroaching floodwaters in the southern Mississippi Delta.

Four months into what seems like a never-ending flood, he’s trying to stay busy. He pressure washed his church, and he’s been shooting the snakes that slither out of a swollen creek submerging his backyard.

“The corn would have been at least waist-high right now,” Walls said.

Floodwater has swamped 860 square miles north of the Mississippi River city of Vicksburg, an area larger than the cities of New York and Los Angeles combined. Residents say it’s the worst flood since 1973. Gov. Phil Bryant last week went further, likening it to the 1927 flood that lives on in books, songs, movies and the folk memory of the state.

“1927 was a line of demarcation for most of us who lived in the Delta,” Bryant, a Republican, said. “This may replace that.”

Levees and floodgates near Vicksburg were built to prevent water from overflowing into the Delta when the river rises. This year, it has been above flood stage at Vicksburg for 102 consecutive days, with the floodgate closed much of that time.

The problem comes when gates are closed and it rains in parts of northern Mississippi. That water flows into the south end of the Delta region and can’t drain into the river. Trapped inside levees with nowhere to go, the water has been rising inch by inch since February.

The Steele Bayou gate was opened Thursday, and water has gone down about 2 inches. But the gate’s likely to close again as the Mississippi River rises with runoff from heavy rains in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas. Current forecasts suggest the water won’t drain significantly until July at the earliest.

When will all the water be gone?

“Nobody knows,” said Holly Bluff Fire Chief Glen Reams.

More than 500 homes have been damaged in flooding across a region where cotton, corn and soybeans are the main crops. Farmers are resigning themselves to missing the growing season entirely.