Lowndes County officials on high alert amid recent floods

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Flooding across the state continued to be a headache for many Mississippians.

Some roads and parks were forced to shut down and the high waters have caused damage to homes and vehicles.

It’s an issue that had road workers working overtime to make sure those flooded roads were dealt with.

Residents have seen it a lot lately — barricades blocking off roadways due to high waters.

It’s a situation county leaders said they’re watching closely.

“Some of them we can take care of, some of them we can’t,” said Lowndes County District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks,

Floods have made some roads you normally drive on, look like lakes.

Brooks said the recent floods have road workers on high alert.

“It’s a routine situation that we’re checking on the roads all the time,” said Brooks. “When we have this weather. We just pay extra attention to it because one of the major concerns we have is people’s safety. We want people to be safe.”

Brooks said one thing that is helpful when these floods do happen is that they normally happen in the same areas.

“We do it so much that we are usually aware of what roads are in bad shape and what needs to happen,” explained Brooks.

But the cost to repair these roads vary due to the amount of flooding that may occur.

But road workers have worked long hours to make sure everything is repaired as fast as possible.

“These guys work 12 hour days. They’re out and about moving all the time,” said Brooks. “And during flooding and other adverse situations sometimes they have to come in. We have these large trees falling across the road. And so they’re called out at night to have to get the tree across the road.”

This year alone, it might seem as if rain has been in the forecast almost daily.

WCBI Chief Meteorologist Keith Gibson said rain around this time was above average.

“We had anywhere from 10, to some places over 20 inches of rain,” said Gibson. “And obviously this is well above the average and some spots like Starkville, we had the wettest start of the year ever on record.”

Gibson said there could be a reason for all the rain.

“We’re just stuck in the rut, there just seems to be a very active southern branch of the jet stream,” said Gibson. “Storm after storm every couple of days move on through here. We’re so close to the Gulf of Mexico. So we get that moisture. And the end result is a lot of rain.”