Yalobusha County Prepares For More Rain

YALOBUSHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – After last week’s rains and flooding, Yalobusha County is coming from the water for a breath of air, but with more rain coming they might be going back under, and county leaders are preparing.

Some rural roads have already seen severe damage from erosion, but with an idea about what this potential rain can do, the county will be ready.

“It’s been some time since we’ve seen the rainfall that we’ve experienced in the last week,” said District 1 Supervisor, Cayce Washington.

But it isn’t over for Yalobusha County. As much as four inches is on the way.

For some areas in the low-lying county, attempts to prevent flooding is next to impossible, but county leaders are doing their best to prepare.

“We are working with the NRCS, and we’re working with our local county engineer and all those channels with our emergency management team. We’re just trying to clean the waterway out to where the water can flow as best as possible,” continued Washington.

One road in particular was captured on video by Yalobusha deputies and showed the gravity of the flood waters.

While County Road 114 was one of the only roads put on social media, we were told more roads like this are throughout the county.

“We’ve had a lot of similar rural roads, dirt roads that we’ve had issues where the water jumps over the culverts and these low-lying bottoms, and we’re just trying to prepare for that,” said Washintgton.

One resident who lives only feet from the road collapse is Ann Townsend.

“It sounded like a big crash, like something was big falling,” described Townsend.

Townsend has lived on 114 since 2002 and in that time has never seen anything like this.

“When I came out to look, I realized all the bushes and trees and stuff was going out into the water,” added Townsend.

Some roads may be a lost cause in the days to come, so to ensure safety, supervisors are simply blocking them off.

“We are barricading roads that look like they’re going to have some flooding,” said Washington. “It may seem like the road’s only a few feet deep or a few inches deep, but if it’s a washout your car could fall in and we want to prevent that.”

For Towsend, if another flood is to hit, she won’t be there to see it.

“If it gets bad again, I’ve going to have to leave this time because it’s right at my house,” said the Water Valley resident.