Warren County residents can expect to start seeing road closures west of U.S. 61, and wildlife in the North Washington Street area and the east side of U.S. 61 as the Mississippi River continues rises to a predicted level of 54 feet by Jan. 16, officials said Monday.

Those items were among the issues discussed as city, county and state Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks officials met Monday afternoon at the Warren County Emergency operations center to begin planning strategy to deal with the severe flooding expected to hit the county.

“We wanted to get our plans together (to deal with the flood) and make sure everybody has what they need,” Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said.

The National Weather Service raised the Mississippi’s projected crest from 52 to 54 feet Monday afternoon, and county emergency management officials said the river is expected to reach 43.2 feet by Sunday. Flood stage is 43 feet.

The 54-foot forecast is 3 feet less than the 57.1 flood stage reached in the spring 2011 Mississippi River flood.

At 54 feet, according to the Weather Service update, water will cover the intersection of Levee Street, North Washington Street, and First East Street.

“At 54 feet, the water is going to be lapping the shoulder of U.S. 61 (North),” Elfer said.

City and county officials are watching the river, and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and city department heads were expected to meet today at 10 a.m. to discuss the city’s plans for dealing with the flood.

Greg Raimondo, public relations director for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District, said the district has begun its initial planning for the flood.

“We’re not going to begin our emergency operation center, but we’ve begun initial plans, getting our teams together, making sure everybody’s ready to go,” he said. “Phase 1 starts at 44 (feet) that’s when we begin our levee inspections. The levee districts are already out there doing theirs.”

Part of the city’s plans are already underway, as city street crews began preparing to close the floodwall at South and Crawford streets. The floodwall in that area is expected to be closed by the time the river reaches 38.8 feet, sometime between Wednesday and Thursday. The floodwall is open at those two areas to allow people to launch boats and for passengers on the riverboats to access buses on Levee Street.

“We install steel beams, and then put stop logs (8-inch by 8-inch wood beams) in the steel beams, and in between apply roofing tar and expansion gear,” city Public Works Director Garnet Nan Van Norman said. “You do that (along the opening in the floodwall) and then you chain them down. We will close those gates and the Depot Street gate, the Clay Street gate, Anderson-Tully gate; we’re going to have to close all of them.

“It looks like, depending on what the crest is, everything (along the floodwall) is going to have to be closed, including the railroad (north of the city). There will be water in the (Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad) depot.”

The floodwall will not be the only flood-affected area closed, as authorities said they will be closing the county roads and city streets as they become affected by the flood.

As the river reaches 36.5 feet, it will affect the Long Lake Community, and the low road to Kings Island becomes impassable, while at 39.5 feet, Long Lake Road to Eagle Lake Road will become impassable about 1 mile north of the Long Lake Community. At 40.5 feet, Shady Lane Drive becomes impassable, and Long Lake Road becomes impassable just north of Cypress Drive.

At 51 feet, Mississippi 465, the main road to Eagle Lake will be underwater, and residents will have to use the back levee road to get to Vicksburg and other areas.

The road has been torn up because of a construction to elevate the mainline levee, but Raimondo said a gravel road should be in place by next week to enable Eagle Lake residents to use the levee road.

“We would have already had it in place had it not been for the rain,” he said.

Once the river reaches 43 feet, all hunting, with the exception of waterfowl will be prohibited by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks, said Lt. Tracy Tullos, law enforcement supervisor for the department’s central region.

“When the Vicksburg gauge reaches 43 feet, waterfowl will be the only season open,” he said. “This will impact mostly hunting deer and small game animals like squirrels and turkey.

The affected area will be on the west side of U.S. 61 in Warren, Issaquena and Sharkey counties from south of Mississippi 14 and north of the Big Black River.

“One reason we’re here is to get information on those flood stages from Memphis (Tenn.) south to Helena Arkansas, Greenville and Vicksburg and Natchez. We’re specifically requesting those dates when the river will be at flood stage so we can enact these closure under our rules.”

As river begins to rise, Tullos said, residents will begin seeing wildlife in their area as the animals try to escape the flood.

He said people in the North Washington Street area will begin seeing animals as they flee Kings Point Island, which is one of the first areas impacted, for higher ground, usually east of U.S. 61.