North Washington Street was opened to traffic Sunday afternoon, as floodwaters continued to recede and the pavement was certified safe for vehicles by Vicksburg officials.

The thoroughfare is a major business route, providing truck access to the E.W. Haining Industrial Center and the Port of Vicksburg, Anderson-Tully and other businesses, as well as serving residents of Waltersville Estates and other residential developments.

The city had closed North Washington Street at First East on May 17, as the Yazoo Diversion Canal rose to cover the nearby railroad tracks and inundated low spots on the road.

The Mississippi River crested at Vicksburg on May 19 at 57.1 feet, 14.1 feet above flood stage.

Sunday’s opening anticipates resumption of traffic on other major routes in the county, as the Mississippi Department of Transportation estimates U.S. 61 North near Redwood could open Wednesday, U.S. 61 South at the Big Black Bridge possibly as early as Friday and Mississippi 465 to Eagle Lake in mid-June.

The Memorial Day weekend would normally have found Vicksburg residents Hays and Billie Latham hosting upwards of 25 family members at their Eagle Lake getaway, spending the holiday on the water with pontoon boat, jet-skis, water slide and swimming off the pier.

Instead, the Lathams are, like others in Vicksburg who regularly head up to Eagle Lake for weekend and holiday recreation, at home.

“Memorial Day usually kicks off the summer at the lake,” Hays Latham said Sunday as a few family members —siblings, in-laws, children and grandchildren — who live nearby popped in for swimming and hot dogs on the grill.

It’s a holiday on a smaller scale and with a few household projects mixed in, the Lathams said.

“We’ll hang out in the backyard this year,” Billie Latham said. “We miss the lake, but we’ll do pool parties instead.”

“The dogs are happiest, because usually they have to stay here,” Hays Latham said of the mini-Schnauzers, teacup Schnauzers and teacup Yorkies happily playing with guests. “They don’t like going to the lake.”

As the Mississippi River made its historic rise throughout April and early May, Eagle Lake was allowed to fill to nearly 90 feet to relieve pressure on nearby levees.

Ten days later, the floodwaters slowly are receding.

The slow fall is best for the levees, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials have said.

U.S. 61 North was closed May 13, following the closure of Mississippi 465 on April 30. U.S. 61 South was shut down May 12.

At Eagle Lake, piers, boathouses and other recreational structures over the water have been inundated, though most homes remain dry. Most of the lake’s permanent residents evacuated several weeks ago because of the road closures.

Sunday afternoon, the river was measured at 53.7 feet, a drop of four-tenths from its level of 54.1 feet late Saturday night. It’s estimated that the river will not drop below flood stage until mid- to late-June.

Meanwhile, more than 3,200 Vicksburg and Warren County residents have been displaced, commuters along U.S. 61 North and South must find alternate routes for at least a few more days and thousands of acres of cropland will be under water for several more weeks.

Hays Latham said he plans to continue one personal tradition he has to mark the Memorial Day holiday — visiting the National Cemetery at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

“I always go out there to see the flags on Memorial Day,” he said.

The couple has made good use of their time at home, too, painting furniture and getting other jobs done that would otherwise have been put off.

And there’s still hope for the Fourth of July, which has always been their biggest bash of the summer, with 45 to 50 family and friends coming from Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texes, Florida and other sites.

“We’ve got a pretty hefty family,” Billie Latham said. “We end up with beds everywhere.”