Mississippi River Flooding Pushing Downstream; Midwest Begins Cleanup

Eric Chaney
Published: January 4,2016
Residents in Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana are on alert as historic winter flooding pushes downstream on the Mississippi River, while those in the Midwest are starting to dry out their flooded homes and belongings.
At least 29 people were killed on the rainy side of Winter Storm Goliath, as floodwaters rose in Missouri, southern Illinois, eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas, forcing residents from their homes.
Floodwaters are starting to recede in some of those areas, but all that water is moving down the Mississippi, putting others at risk.
Here's what we know about the flooding impacts across several states.

Tennessee 

Flood waters have already closed Second Street in Memphis, WREG reports, from Whitney and Mud Island Drive and also the access road to the Stiles Water Treatment Plant, in response to reports that the Mississippi is expected to crest at 40.5 feet on Friday.
Water is also lapping at some homes on Mud Island, the station says, but those homes are raised, so there is not a concern of water getting inside at this time.
A press release from the Shelby County Office of Preparedness announced that the water from the Mississippi River have been rising and affecting Memphis and Shelby County neighborhoods, and has released maps of areas which may flood.
Emergency responders have been sent to inspect areas such as Mud Island, where high water has been spotted near homes on Running River Place, River Landing Drive, Harbor Isle Circle North and Marina Cottage Drive.

“We’re closely monitoring these areas along with law enforcement officers and fire department companies. Right now, all main roads are open. Still, people need to be on the lookout.  We don’t want anyone trapped by high water,” said Office of Preparedness director Dale Lane.  

Mississippi

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant issued a state of emergency last week in preparation for potential flooding that covers all counties along the Mississippi, its tributaries and any other affected parts of the state.
“We are told this flood will be just below the historic record flood of 2011,” Bryant said in a statement. “Our citizens have time to prepare and should begin taking actions now.”
The Mississippi River reached flood stage at Natchez over the weekend and is expected to continue to rise.
Forecaster Anna Wolverton with the Jackson office of the National Weather Service tells The Natchez Democrat  the river level reached 48 feet on the Natchez gauge at approximately 6 p.m. Saturday.
On Sunday, the river measured 48.55 feet.
The Mississippi is probably rising a foot or two a day, said National Weather Service meteorologist Latrice Maxie in Jackson.
Some smaller communities along the river near Vicksburg are getting backwater flooding from streams that cannot drain into the high river, Maxie said.
Herman Smith, Vicksburg Bridge Commission Superintendent, already has his crew pulling electrical fixtures out of their workshop, WJTV reports. Right now, water levels are just over 42. Anything over 44 will cover the floor in Smith’s shop.
“We are expecting to get it within a foot of the ceiling, if not over the ceiling in our break room," he told the station. "So we don’t want to ruin those fixtures by leaving them in there,” Smith said.
Cattle farmer Sherwood Lyons and his wife, Melissa, worried that high water might force them to move their herd of 250 off the levee near Vicksburg.
“If we do have to move them, it’ll put us out of business,” he told the Vicksburg Post. “We’ll have to sell out because we don’t have anywhere to put them.”
Bally's Casino in Tunica has temporarily closed due to the threat of flooding, WREG reports.

 Louisiana

In Louisiana, governor Bobby Jindal issued a state of emergency due to the imminent flooding of the Mississippi and Red Rivers.

The state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness activated its crisis action team to monitor requests for state assistance from parishes and was closely monitoring river levels and levees.
“River flooding is an emergency that requires constant monitoring and adjustment as the situation evolves,” emergency director Kevin Davis said in a statement.
The Mississippi River level was 34.85 feet at Baton Rouge at 11 a.m. Monday, just 2 inches under the flood stage mark of 35 feet. In New Orleans, the river was at 13.47 feet, several feet below its 17-foot flood stage.
The river may rise above flood stage in New Orleans by next weekend or early next week, which may require opening of the Bonnet Carré spillway to divert excess Mississippi River flood water into Lake Pontchartrain and protect the city of New Orleans, says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
This could also require activation of the Morganza spillway in Pointe Coupee Parish to divert excess floodwater away from Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, opening of this spillway would threaten flooding of 800 homes in Butte La Rose, Louisiana, reports KATC.

Missouri

Another flood-related death has been reported in Missouri, even as residents begin to cleanup from last week's historic high water.
The body of 40-year-old Rickey G. Lerma, of Risco, was found Thursday morning in the St. Francis River after he fled from officers, KFVS reports. Police say Lerma bailed out of his vehicle when it stalled while he attempted to cross a flood zone. A police dog later found him swimming along the flooded river, but Lerma refused orders to return to land.

The Central Baptist Church in Eureka, Missouri is serving as a central donation pick up and drop off for those impacted by flooding.

Elsewhere in the state, residents continue to clean up after President Barack Obama signed a declaration Saturday officially proclaiming an emergency in Missouri. The declaration will provide federal aid for state and local response efforts and authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief and cleanup efforts. "I'm from this part of the state and, quite frankly, it's almost hard to believe," Missouri governor Jay Nixon told CNN. "It's almost as if you're living on some other planet."

In Eureka, where more than four dozen water rescues took place, donations of food, clothing, and bottled water are being collected at the Central Baptist Church,  to help anyone impacted by the flooding. 

Jason Peck of Eureka was one of those, CNN reports. Though his family had placed sandbags around their home, Peck returned home after evacuating to find nearly 4 feet of murky water had destroyed several rooms, including his son's bedroom.
Peck's son has not seen what's left of his bedroom, but recalling the damage brought Peck close to tears.
"We heard it was coming," he told CNN. "I didn't believe it was going to get like this."

Illinois

The Illinois River continued to rise Saturday and could near historic crests Tuesday or Wednesday, Thomas Spriggs, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in St. Louis, told the Decatur Herald-Review.
"It's still a very significant flood," he said Saturday. "It's going to be at major flood stage for the next three days."
Floodwaters are receding in other parts of the state, leaving residents such as Sharon Stivers of Kincaid to clean up. Stivers musters a smile as she surveys a tall stack of water-soaked furniture, appliances and belongings pulled from her home and piled high by the road in the flat central Illinois town of Kincaid
"Welcome to my flood sale," she joked. "You can have the whole thing for 50 cents."
The Mississippi River and most other waterways in Missouri and Illinois flooded last week after 10-14 inches of rain fell over a wide swath of the two states.
Stivers and many of her neighbors spent Sunday removing ruined items from their homes and placing them along the street for trash crews to pick up. Stivers shares a home with a 45-year-old daughter battling breast cancer, along with a granddaughter and four dogs. Floodwaters got 4 feet into their home, located in an area where flood insurance wasn't available.
"I lost my home," Stivers said. "My daughter has cancer and lost her home. Am I mad? When I'm not crying I am."
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In Illinois' St. Clair County near St. Louis, emergency management director Herb Simmons said damage assessment began Sunday after the Mississippi started to fall. Though water reached higher than 1993, this flood wasn't as bad, Simmons said.
"In '93 that water came up and stayed on the levees for several months," Simmons said. "This flood came up quick and went down quick."