VIDALIA — Inmate crews finished securing most of the buildings and the city’s two water wells from floodwaters on the Vidalia Riverfront with sand walls Saturday, and all flood preparations for the riverfront are set for completion Tuesday.

Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said Hesco Bastion instant levees are now fully built up and wrapped around the perimeters of Promise Hospital and Riverpark Medical Center.

The water wells also received extra fortification. A clay wall was built as an inside layer to the Hesco wall at both wells, as a precautionary measure to protect the city’s supply of drinking water, Copeland said.

A similar wall around Comfort Suites should be completed by Sunday, and the Vidalia Convention Center’s perimeters should be squared off by Tuesday, Copeland said.

“I feel really comfortable,” Copeland said of the city’s riverfront preparations. “Everything is going real good.”

Copeland said all of the levees are holding well and flood preparations are working like clockwork at this point.

“Everything is going good,” he said. “The Corps (of Engineers) is keeping us up to date, the governor’s office is also, and I’m extremely comfortable that the levees are going to hold.”

Copeland said city authorities will be the first ones to deliver any breaking news when it occurs. He said residents should be careful to believe anything they hear until the information is confirmed by city authorities, the Vidalia Police Department or the Vidalia Fire Department.

Copeland said his staff is setting up a meeting for Monday to release proposed plans for evacuation. He said city authorities will tell residents when they need to evacuate in a timely manner if the situation calls for it. More details for Monday’s meeting will be released in The Democrat when plans are confirmed.

In parish traffic news:

The Fifth District Levee Board will shut down all vehicular traffic on the unpaved Mississippi River levee system through Concordia Parish at 6 p.m. today.

The Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office has been restricting traffic all week.

“This includes owners of camps, commercial fishermen — everyone,” Sheriff Randy Maxwell said.

In Natchez, an estimated six feet of water laid across the lowest part of Silver Street Saturday. The water covered an approximately 60-foot stretch of the road near the Isle of Capri Casino traffic turn-around.

D.A. Biglane in Natchez was closed to traffic with the Saturday morning closure of the Isle of Capri Casino.

The river stood at 54.73 Saturday afternoon, 0.68 feet higher than the day before.

The crest prediction remains the same, 64 on May 22.

In Natchez, sand-walling continued on Silver Street Saturday with Hesco Bastion baskets. Under-the-Hill property owner Denton Biglane said he hopes crews will complete the 450-foot wall today, which will stretch from behind the Isle of Capri office to in front of Under-the-Hill Saloon.

Denton said work on the second half of the wall should go twice as fast. As the wall is erected up the hill, only two stacked layers of the baskets will be needed due to higher ground instead three, pyramid-style stacked layers on the south end of the wall, he said.

City Engineer David Gardner said the city removed three light posts and the trail marker on Silver Street this week. He said he was worried driftwood or other debris in the river flow would damage the poles and marker.

The Adams County road crew completed building a 100-foot levee over the railroad tracks near a low-lying section of the port.

District 5 Supervisor S.E. “Spanky” Felter said the road crew took three days to finish the dirt wall.

Felter said he would like the county to build a flood gate at the problem area when waters recede for future flood preparations.