Residents of Eagle Lake, Kings and other communities are preparing for the worst with the impending flood said to crest in two weeks at 54 ft.

A number of issues were discussed at a community flood briefing Wednesday for the Eagle Lake community, which covered Waste Management and road and levee usage among other issues.

Sheriff Martin Pace said he thought as long as roads were usable the community should still receive mail and newspaper delivery, and the local postmaster and publisher of The Vicksburg Post agreed.

Local postmaster Bill Farrior Jr. issued about 200 letters to residents in areas that will potentially be affected by the floodwaters letting them know once certain roads are closed, they can pick up their mail at the post office.

“If the river gets higher and higher we’ll send out more [letters] periodically just to take, hopefully, some of the worry off their minds,” Farrior said. “That’s something else they don’t have to worry about doing, putting their mail on hold. We’re doing it for them.”

Farrior wasn’t in Vicksburg in 2011, but from what he understands the post office is handling the flood the same way. He said service would continue until roads are closed or areas are evacuated.

“Currently, USPS vehicles cross the levee, but if it is not safe or if it closes, there will be no mail delivery and customers will need to pick up their mail at their local post office,” USPS spokesperson Debra Fetterly said.

Farrior said there are Dutch doors just inside the post office where residents who aren’t receiving mail can ring a buzzer to get service and not have to stand in line with other customers.

“We’ll do everything we can to get the people their mail,” Farrior said.

The water predicted to flood streets of Vicksburg and Warren County will make it difficult for mail delivery to continue safely, Fetterly said.

“While we do make every attempt to deliver the mail, the safety of our employees is our priority,” Fetterly said.

As for the employees, they have been instructed with ways to deal with the flood, and Farrior said they have been through this many times they know where the flooded areas will be located.

“We have already talked with our employees about preparation, response, and recovery if we have flood conditions,” Fetterly said. “We have distributed safety reminders ‘Turn Around, Don’t Drown’ on the dangers of floods and flash floods.”

She said the USPS asks its employees to monitor weather conditions, road closures and other information related to the post office through the company’s National Employee Emergency Hotline. Employees are also able to use the hotline for an evacuation option to insure their safety, she said.

USPS Service Alerts can be issued to customers to inform them about service disruptions they may encounter because of weather or natural disasters. For the latest information from the USPS, visit http://about.usps.com/news/service-alerts/welcome.htm.

Publisher Tim Reeves of The Vicksburg Post said the newspaper is working with the independent contractors who deliver the paper to make sure the impacted areas will receive deliveries.

Safety is a concern when it comes to delivery. Reeves said the carriers already use the levee to deliver papers, and they will continue to do so as long as it is safe.

“We want to make sure our independent contractors are as safe as possible,” Reeves said. “We won’t ask them to do anything unsafe.”

In the event the carriers would not be safe delivering the paper, backup measures would have to be taken.

“We will reach out to customers by letter or phone to give them their options,” Reeves said.

He said one of those options is to stop the customer’s subscription for the time the paper could not be delivered and then restart and extend their subscription to make up for the days they did not receive a delivery. The other option is for subscribers to have their paper held at the office, 1601 North Frontage Road, so the customers can pick it up at their convenience or have all the papers delivered once delivery resumes.

Subscribers can call the customers service representatives at The Post to put these precautions into place in advance at 601-636-4545. Anyone living in an affected area will receive either a letter or a phone call from The Post to inform them of their options as well.

He said The Post used a similar plan in 2011. His goal is to provide details on the impact of the flood and to be an information source through digital products like Facebook and vicksburgpost.com, which he said has greatly improved since 2011. He said the paper is able to give additional information online to serve the public quicker.