“It’s from one thing to another,” Lowndes County Emergency Management Director Cindy Lawrence told The Dispatch Wednesday. “First it was ice, now it’s water.”
After ice immobilized the Golden Triangle last week, rain is now soaking the area and cell phones are abuzz with flood warning notifications.
David Cox, lead meteorologist with the Jackson office of the National Weather Service, told The Dispatch Wednesday morning plans to build an ark may be premature, at least for Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties.
While it is raining torrentially in other parts of the state, the precipitation in the Golden Triangle is less intense, Cox said, with about an inch and a half recorded by about 10 a.m. Wednesday.
“For the next 24 to 36 hours (the rain) is pretty locked in,” he said. “It’s not as torrential as (south and west Mississippi) but it’s very efficient rain, so it’s going to add up. There’s potential we could see 3 to 4 inches of additional rain (in the Golden Triangle).
“We were receiving nearly 4 inches an hour here at the Jackson airport earlier this morning,” he added. “Further south there could be 4 to 5 inches an hour.”
Because of last week’s cold snap, all this rain isn’t as likely to be absorbed, Cox said.
“In a typical situation the ground would soak it up,” he said. “The ground has been hard and cold for a while, so we’re seeing more runoff. If we continue to see rainfall, there will be the potential for localized flooding.”
Rain is likely to continue into the weekend, Cox said.
“We have a lot of moisture and things are set up for this to stall across the region for several days,” Cox said. “… There’s another system that’s going to move across the region late Friday into Saturday that could bring additional rainfall.”
According to a NWS website, which uses data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, local rivers are not forecast to flood.
The flood stage of the Tombigbee River at the Stennis Lock and Dam is 161 feet, with the crest projected at 151.6 feet sometime Friday. Flood stage for the Luxapalila Creek near Columbus is 15 feet, and the crest is projected at 13.5 feet, also on Friday.
Not-so-flash flooding
Lawrence said she isn’t overly concerned about flash flooding in Lowndes County as of now, but there could be localized flooding in low-lying areas of the county if the rain keeps up.
“(The NWS) has said they see flash flooding for us, but I don’t see what they’re thinking,” she said. “If it keeps raining and you have poor drainage in your area, I can see us getting some localized flooding, especially if (the rain is) heavy at times.”
Lowndes County Road Manager Mike Aldridge told The Dispatch it could rain enough to affect roads.
“If the rain continues at the pace it’s been for the last two or three hours some of our low-lying roads will definitely be getting water over them,” Aldridge said. “I’d say by night time we’ll have water over low-lying roads.”
Oktibbeha County Road Manager Victor Collins agrees.
“We’re going to get some flooding, we’re going to have water across a few roads, but hopefully not to a real heavy extent,” Collins said. “We’ll just have to see kind of what it does.”
The threat is greatest in areas that are low-lying or have poor drainage due to clogged culverts, Collins said.
If water does get over the road, turn around, Lawrence said.
“Don’t go through there,” Lawrence said. “Don’t go through the water, take a detour. The road could be washed out.”
Oktibbeha County EMA Director Kristen Campanella did not return a Dispatch phone call by press time.
Cracks, potholes down the road
The real problems will come in the next couple weeks, as the effects of last week’s freeze and this week’s copious rains combine.
“The freezing has impacted quite a few of our roads, especially the ones that haven’t been paved for a while,” Collins said. “Ice started crumbling the surface of the pavement, and we’ve got quite a bit in all five districts.”
It’s hard to say what the extent of the damage is until it dries out, Collins said.
“We’re going to work hard to keep them travelable until we can do something to them,” he said.
Aldridge said there wasn’t a lot of major deterioration in Lowndes County yet.
“We haven’t seen roads just coming to pieces yet,” Aldridge said. “What tears up the road is when there’s a crack and the water gets in it and gets down to the base of the road. We’ve had this freeze and now we’re getting this heavy rain, and probably the tail will be in the next week to couple of weeks.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
