Local Land Owners Express Concerns About The Water Rising

CALHOUN, Miss.(WCBI) – It’s a common issue across much of the state, flooding and the damage that it brings.

Land owners in Calhoun, Grenada, and Yalobusha Counties say water continues to ruin their property.

Over the past few weeks many people across the country have experienced torrential rain fall. Folks in this area are also no strangers to high waters.

Local farmers and land owners are growing concerned about growing their crops, once the waters start to rise.

“What are you going to do? You can’t go out there and farm in a boat,”said Yalobusha Drainage District President Kitt Bryant.

That’s the general consensus of the land owners in Calhoun, Yalobusha, and Grenada Counties.

They live near Grenada Lake and the Skuna River, along with other smaller creeks.

“We’re having trouble with the river being stopped up. That’s why they’ve all come together, trying to get some relief from our U.S. Congressman and Senators to help provide funding to help get this taken care of. It affects the county and affects the city. It affects lagoons and residents and gets in their houses. It affects farmers if we only have a small rain,”said Calhoun County Board Of Supervisor’s president Barney Wade.

U.S. Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District Senior Project Manager Kent Parrish says a lot of work has been done in the area, several years ago, the corps hopes to pick up where they left off soon.

“We have an authorization already to work up here. Basically all we need now is funding to get back and look at this area. It started back in the late 90’s and we did a lot of work till the mid 2000’s and we need to go back and survey and see how those measures are doing. Do they need to be rehabbed and then we need to do more stabilization and other areas here in the county,”said Parrish.

Bryant says he’s tired of the Corp Of Engineers same ole song and dance.

“In the past, instead of addressing the problem or fixing it, it’s a whole lot easier to them to go to the farmer and say we’re going to condemn your property and give you so much an acre. This property that’s been in their family for so long. Do you just want to give your land away, your livelihood take with money they gave you a move on? Nobody wants to do that,”said Bryant.

Wade says county leaders are ready to continue the conversation on the next level.

“What it’s going to take is people writing their congressman and talking to them and the people who were here today though go back until their bosses that the public is concerned and I think our next move is to write letters and let them know the concerns and the needs for our community,”said Wade.

This is the first in a series of meetings the Calhoun Board Of Supervisors hopes to have.