About $10,500 raised for victims of spring flooding by area churches will begin to be disbursed to qualifying Vicksburg residents soon, Triumph M.B. Church Pastor Dextor Jones told those who attended a community meeting Saturday in the Kings Empowerment Center.

“We’re hoping to start cutting checks in about a week and a half,” Jones told 15 residents who attended the meeting, “and we’re still trying to raise more money. My objective is to try to raise $100,000.”

It has been three months since the Mississippi River topped flood stage at Vicksburg, and some residents of Ford subdivision and Kings are still displaced and struggling to move back into their homes.

Louis Craft, 86, and his 83-year-old wife, Rosie Craft, stayed in a shelter immediately after they evacuated their Williams Street home in April and have since moved into a Vicksburg apartment.

As floodwater topped 7 feet inside their home, utilities were cut and Craft said he is not sure if they will be allowed to move back.

“They won’t turn the electricity back on – that’s the holdup,” he said. “They say we have to raise the house, but me and Mama wouldn’t be able to get up and down those steps even if we could afford it. I don’t believe it’s going to happen.”

An ordinance adopted in 2002 by the City of Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen states that any home in a repetitive floodplain that is damaged by more than 50 percent of its appraised value during a flood must be rebuilt to meet all floodplain codes before utilities are allowed to be returned.

Frank Johnson’s Hutson Street home took on more than a foot of water, but his utilities were not cut. Still, he is paying about $600 a month to rent a house while he slowly renovates his home.

“It’s been worse than ’73,” said Johnson, a member of Cool Springs M.B. Church, which has been instrumental in raising funds with the help of Pastor Byron Maxwell.

“I came to see if there’s any assistance for me,” Johnson said, “but also to see how the money we raised is going to be spent.”

To helpDonations for flood victim relief can be sent to Triumph Missionary Baptist Church, 124 Pittman Road, Vicksburg, MS, 39180. Checks should be made out to the Kings Ford Waltersville Chickasaw Neighborhood Association flood relief fund.To receive assistance, flood victims may apply at the Kings Empowerment Center, 224 R.L. Chase Circle.The money will not be divided equally, said Jones, and first will benefit those who received the least amount of government assistance.

“If you’ve gotten a lump sum of money from FEMA, $15,000 to $20,000, we’re not going to be looking to help you right now – $10,000, is not a lot of money,” he said. “We’re going to start at the bottom and work our way up.”

Jones said those who wish to benefit from the money raised by area churches first must fill out forms that will calculate each applicant’s needs. The forms are available at the Kings Empowerment Center.

The Mississippi River at Vicksburg topped flood stage of 43 feet on March 29, crested at 50.9 feet on April 19 and fell below flood stage on May 10. It marked the highest recorded river stage at Vicksburg since 1973, when the river crested at 51.6 feet.

On Saturday the river at the city was at 39.9 feet, with no change from Friday. Midwestern flooding has had the river at Vicksburg on a steady rise over the past two weeks, but it began to crest Thursday and is forecast to begin falling today.

The money raised by area churches and distributed by the KFWC Neighborhood Association will not nearly solve all of the problems still facing flood victims, Jones said.

“We need to look at finding public housing for the long term. The flood has receded, everybody has gone back to their normal lives and you have been forgotten,” he told the meeting’s attendees. “Our objective is to continue to raise money and find ways to help everyone recover from the flood who has been affected.”

The KFWC Neighborhood Associaton meets every third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the Kings Empowerment Center, and meetings are open to the public.