Heavy rains flood roads, force residents out of their houses

Published 1:00 am Saturday, August 13, 2016

CENTREVILLE — Heavy rains dumped up to 14 inches of rain in Amite and Wilkinson counties, and 1,300 people were without power Thursday morning, as storms flooded roads and forced residents out of their houses.

Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Matt Reed said Buffalo Road in Wilkinson County is closed on both ends, at U.S. 61 and Mississippi 563. He said the road is completely under water. U.S. 61 at the Buffalo River Bridge is also closed.

“I was born and raised here. In 37 years, I’ve never seen it this high,” he said. “My daddy, who is 67, has never seen it like this. We rescued a man who is 85, and he said he’s never seen it this high. I am sure it will be a record.”

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Water entered at least six houses, Reed said, and he thinks water will likely flood into more houses before the rains stop.

Reed said his department has, along with the Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Office, emergency management, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and the Woodville Fire Department, conducted four evacuations from houses.

Reed was not aware of any injuries or power outages as of 9:30 p.m. Friday. He said the Mississippi Highway Patrol confirmed the river was three feet above the bridge on U.S. 61 at approximately 8:30 p.m.

“There has been a whole lot of rain, and a whole lot of water,” he said. “I’m just praying the rain stops and the river goes down.”

More than 50 people were flooded out of a neighborhood in Crosby and were being housed at the storm shelter on the Natchez High School campus Friday night. Adams County Emergency Management Director Robert Bradford said he anticipates housing residents at least until Monday.

Most of Adams County and areas to the north received less rainfall than Amite and Wilkinson counties. National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Garrett said as of 6:30 p.m. Friday, parts of Adams County had received six to nine inches of rain since Wednesday, with most of the precipitation occurring to the southeast.

Up to three inches is projected to fall across the area today. Since the slow-moving storm system is traveling northwest, Garrett said Centreville would likely receive less rain today than Adams County.

Garrett said Concordia Parish residents mostly received a half-inch to two inches of rain, with the southeast corner of the parish receiving up to four inches.

Natchez Entergy Customer Service Manager Tim Runnels said Friday most of the company’s problems had been in the Centreville area, with isolated outages in Natchez and the surrounding counties.

Runnels said 1,3000 customers were without power in Centreville, including Field Memorial Community Hospital. Runnels said he hoped crews would have most of the customers back online by early Saturday morning.

“We won’t have them all,” he said. “We are working under tough weather conditions, with the flooding in the area causing roads to be closed.”

Runnels said the outages were caused by four large trees falling as well as lightning strikes.

More than 300 customers were without power Thursday evening and early Friday morning in Natchez mainly off of U.S. 61 South near Trinity Episcopal Day School, Runnels said. The 315 customers did not have power for approximately ninehours, with power restored at approximately 3 a.m.

Runnels said crews were working hard in southwest Mississippi, but as this is a developing storm system, more outages could occur.

“As soon as you get one back on, a lot of them have been knocked back off,” he said.

Concordia Parish Homeland Security and Preparedness Director Payne Scott was not aware of any power outages in Concordia Parish.

Friday afternoon, Centreville Police Chief Johnny Ray Reese said most roads in the town and county roads leading away from town were closed.

“There were some completely under water,” he said.

Reese said as of Friday evening at approximately 6 p.m., the rain had started to slack off and the floodwaters were beginning to settle down.

Outside the town limits, several rural roads are closed with bridges out and culverts washed out, Reese said.

No injuries have been reported, Reese said, but a few people did drive cars into ditches.

Hazardous conditions had caused road closures on Mississippi 24 between Centreville and Gloster and Gloster and Liberty in Amite County, on Mississippi 48 between Liberty and Centreville and from Mississippi 569 to the Louisiana state line.

In Pike County, Mississippi 575 between Mississippi 48 and Osyka Progress Road had been impacted by flooding.

In Wilkinson County, flooding had created hazardous conditions on Mississippi 33 between Centreville and the Louisiana state line.