The 4,093-square-mile Yazoo Backwater Area was to begin today draining off floodwaters that have accumulated in the levee-locked region north of Vicksburg for more than a month, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the gates of Steele Bayou this morning, said Corps Water Control Civil Engineering Technician Waylon Hill.

“There’s a lot of farmers up there breathing a sigh of relief this morning,” said Hill.

The gates of Steele Bayou — the lone drainage point for the backwater area — have been closed for just over a month. They were forced shut by the Mississippi River on May 6. The river crested at Vicksburg on May 26 at 42.8 feet, just shy of the 43 foot flood stage at the city. As of this morning, the river was running at 37.2 feet at the city, a fall of 1.6 feet over the past 24 hours.

Steele Bayou was holding slightly more than 6 feet of river water out of the backwater area during peak river stages last month. The backwater area water stage topped out at 85.4 feet, considerably lower than the 88 foot crest the Corps had forecast. Crops typically begin going underwater in the backwater area around 86 feet.

“We had a few farmers who called and said they had some water starting to creep in on the end of their rows, but it was nothing like what we’ve seen the past couple of years,” said Hill.

The backwater area water stage peaked at 93.7 feet in 2009, and in 2008 it reached 92.3 feet — marking the third and sixth worst flood events in the area since the levee system was completed in 1978. During each of those floods, the Corps estimated more than 400,000 acres of land went underwater.

The gates, located about 25 miles north of Vicksburg off Mississippi 465, measure 30 feet wide and 22.5 feet tall. Hill said it takes about 2 hours to get the gates completely opened.