The Mississippi Department of Transportation closed Mississippi 465 Wednesday at 6 p.m. in anticipation of floodwaters crossing the state road Thursday, cutting off the direct route to the Eagle Lake community.

The state highway floods at 46.5 feet, according to a timeline released Wednesday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District. The Mississippi River is expected to reach that level at Vicksburg sometime today. The river is predicted to crest at 52.5 feet Jan. 15.

Closing 465 means Eagle Lake, which is protected from flooding from the mainline levee along the Mississippi and the Yazoo backwater levee, will be isolated, and residents will have to take the section of Mississippi 465 that runs along the mainline levee north of the community to Sharkey County to get to U.S. 61 and then to Vicksburg.

People trying to get to Eagle Lake will take U.S. 61 North to Low Water Bridge Road, to Goose Lake Road and then to 465, which is the only public road on the levee, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said.

Mississippi Levee Board chief engineer Peter Nimrod said the backwater levee, which is occasionally used by Eagle Lake residents, has been closed to traffic, adding the system will be patrolled by Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks agents.

He said the levee system was damaged by traffic in the 2008 flood, adding it is an important element for the backwater system. He said floodwaters are expected to reach within 4.5 feet of the top of the backwater levee, “Which is still too close for comfort.

“I know using the mainline levee road is an inconvenience, because it is longer, but it’s a safer road than using the backwater levee,” he said.

Pace said two roads on the west side of mainline levee — Ziegler Road and Laney Camp Road — have been underwater and closed for a week.

“The cabins on that side of the levee are up on pilings, so they’re safe, but there is no access to them,” he said.

He said county roads Long Lake Road, Thompson Lake Road and Chickasaw Road and adjoining roads including Chickasaw Lane are also underwater. He said in areas of moderate flooding, sheriff’s deputies are able to patrol in four-wheel drive vehicles. Where the water is too deep, he said, deputies will use the department’s boats.

In the city, Police Chief Walter Armstrong said Pittman Road and Jackson Lane in the Kings community are beginning to go under water, and Williams and Eva streets in Ford Subdivision are getting water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We anticipate starting to block off roads in Kings and Ford Thursday and more by the weekend,” he said.

While police and sheriff’s deputies dealt with flooded roads, work continued on the floodwall and sandbagging efforts to protect the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Depot on Levee Street.

City building maintenance workers aided by volunteer workers from the Hinds County Public Works Department began laying the bags Wednesday morning to form a 2-foot high wall around the depot, which is home to the Old Depot Museum, Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau and Vicksburg Main Street.

The workers received additional help Wednesday afternoon, when seniors from St. Aloysius arrived to fill sandbags used to build the wall.

A pump provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will remove water from the building’s basement.

Building maintenance supervisor Sammie Rainey estimated the city will use about 7,500 sandbags to build the wall, which is expected to keep water out of the building.

“We should be finished with the sandbagging by Friday,” Rainey said. “What we’re doing is making a base of six bags and then building up with one bag on top.”

Old Depot Museum director/curator David Benway, who watched the project said the wall “should keep the water out.”

Joan Thornton, theology teacher at St. Aloysius, said the city called the school and asked for volunteers, adding she asked the students, who were receptive to the idea.

“They do a senior service volunteer project and we usually work at Good Shepherd,” she said. “We just changed plans and came here. We have 12 seniors and three alums from the classes of 2013 and 2015.”

“It feels good to come down to the downtown area and help out and protect these buildings,” said senior Lee Simpson. “Anything we are able to do to help out, I’m willing to do.”

While the bags went up around the depot, other city workers continued building the flood wall that ran parallel to the depot at the intersection of Levee Street and Grove Street high enough to handle a 54-foot crest.

“The rule is you build the wall 2 feet above the anticipated crest,” Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman said. “When we began, the crest was predicted at 54 feet, so we began building the wall to (handle) 56 feet. The crest has been lowered, but we’re going to continue building the wall for 56 feet. I don’t want to take any chances.”

He said he expected the wall to be completed this weekend “depending on the weather. It will all depend on how much we can get done. If we can’t finish the work by the weekend, we’ll finish early next week. We will still have time.”