A lesser flood with greater damages is the assessment as water keeps inching up toward a forecast crest of 4 feet above flood stage on Saturday.

“It’s already bad,” said Gerald Maxey, whose elevated home at 274 Ford Road took on some water during flooding in 2008. “A lot of people are saying they’ve never seen floods come back to back like this.”

The Mississippi River

Today’s stage: 46.3 feet

24-hour change: +.4

Crest forecast: 47 feet on May 23

Flood stage: 43 feet

The Mississippi River measured 46.3 feet at Vicksburg this morning, a rise of 0.4 feet in a 24-hour period. It is forecast to crest at 47 feet on Saturday.

The number is both 4 feet above the official flood mark and nearly 4 feet below 2008’s crest at 50.9 feet.

Backwater from the Yazoo is expected to top and close Mississippi 465 in northwest Warren County today. Meanwhile, residents in low-lying areas north of Vicksburg began moving their belongings to higher ground on Tuesday as their yards filled with water.

City officials said Tuesday gas service has already been or will be cut at homes on Williams Street and Ford Road for safety purposes. Entergy will also cut electricity to homes as the water begins to reach electrical boxes. City streets already under water include Long Lake and Chickasaw Roads, Jackson Lane and St. Marys Alley, as well as portions of Pittman and Ford roads. A handful of homes on Ford Road — still uninhabited from last year’s flood — began taking on water Tuesday.

Beverly Connelly, director of the Vicksburg Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, said the situation was being monitored and a temporary shelter would be opened if needed.

The 2008 crest came April 21 and the river dropped below flood stage on May 10. It was the highest measured river stage recorded at the city in 35 years, dating to 1973 when the river climbed to 51.6 feet — but this year it’s coming late in the window of time for seasonal crops.

Hundreds of acres of fields off Chickasaw and Long Lake roads are under 1 to 2 feet of water as of this morning, said Warren County Extension Service Director John Coccaro. “Even though farmers had a late planting date last year after the floods receded, some were able to make a good crop. This year is going to be even later and it’s going to be even tougher,” Coccaro said.

Some had not planted before flooding last year. This year, crops such as corn and soybeans were already in the ground and most were already fertilized as the river began to rise. By the time the river recedes and the fields dry out, Coccaro said, replanting soybeans will be about the only option left. “That’s the only thing that will stand a chance whatsoever at making a decent crop,” he said.  It will be too late for cotton or corn, other crops that have dominated in years past.

Farmers who tend crops north of Vicksburg inside the 4,093-square-mile, levee-locked area known as the Yazoo Backwater will likely have to wait even longer to replant. The gates of the Steele Bayou control structure off Mississippi 465 — the lone drainage point for the backwater area — were closed on May 10 and will not be reopened until the land side water stage is higher than the river side stage.

As of this morning, Steele Bayou was holding about 2.7 feet of river water out of the impounded area, with the land side stage at 92 feet and the river side stage at 94.7 feet. Without any additional rainfall, the Corps estimates the land side stage will top out at 92 to 92.5 feet at the end of the month.

In 2008, Steele Bayou was closed on March 13 and reopened on May 8, at which point the water stage inside the structure was 92.3 feet and the Corps estimated a total of 344,000 acres of forest and farmland were flooded.

With the primary route from U.S. 61 North closed, Eagle Lake community residents will have to use a gravel levee road. Heavy trucks will not be allowed on the levee road and will have to use Low Water Bridge Road or Mississippi 1 at Onward to access Eagle Lake.

Eagle Lake has nearly 600 full- or part-time residences, and the oxbow lake is a favorite boating and fishing spot in warm months. Mississippi 465 was closed for about a month last year after water washed over it at 46.5 feet.

“We’re watching the crest closely, and if it doesn’t change we’re in good shape,” said Richard Winans, county road department manager. “LeTourneau is our biggest concern right now.”

LeTourneau Road, a two-lane road south of Vicksburg leading to the oil rig manufacturer’s fabrication site, remains open. It went under water at about 48 feet last year and also was closed for about a month, causing the temporary layoff of about 1,100 LeTourneau employees.

Due to increased currents, the U.S. Coast Guard last week began restricting barge traffic. Southbound tows are allowed to pass beneath the bridges at Vicksburg only during daytime hours. Five barge tows struck support piers on the U.S. 80 bridge in a 40-day span during last year’s flood.

Vicksburg emergency management officials estimated that 145 people were displaced from 101 homes in the city last spring, most of them from Ford and Waltersville areas, which are repetitive flood plains.

Since then, 16 homeowners have qualified for a federal buyout of their homes, five have waived their right to any future disaster assistance to begin repairing their homes and a few have begun elevating their homes. The city received the home buyout money on Monday from state and federal emergency management agencies. Seven homeowners in the county, including some who formerly lived on Mississippi 465, are still waiting to receive checks through the federal buyout program.

As in 2008, National Weather Service forecasters have moved their crest prediction up several times as new measurements were taken upstream. Still, an increase to levels seen last year is not expected.

“If it gets up that high, I’m still not going anywhere,” said Maxey, whose home is elevated and could be reached by boat. He said he would get through a power outage with a generator — as he did for about a week last spring.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com