VIDALIA — If all goes as predicted, the raging Mississippi River will be back to raging at non-flood levels Sunday.

At that point, water is expected to fall below 48 feet above gauge zero at the Natchez-Vidalia pass, officially bringing the high water back below flood stage.

Meanwhile, Concordia Parish will officially remain in a declared state of emergency until June 20, Emergency Preparedness Director Morris White said.

The state of emergency was set to expire last week, but the office of emergency preparedness extended the declaration until June.

“All that does is keep us in position to stay in compliance (with the federal government),” White said. “If we have any other disaster problems, we are already in a federal blanket.”

This year’s high water was caused by a perfect storm of conditions, White said.

“The high water itself was caused here by a bunch of heavy rain that was dropped on the Ohio River valley and north of Cairo, Ill.,” White said. “There was also a bunch of ice and snow melting up north at the same time. It takes more than one problem to make a flood happen, and if everything goes in normal sequence it doesn’t happen.”

Flooding in Concordia Parish has been largely limited to the low-lying, unincorporated areas of Minorca and Deer Park, where some homes and camps have taken on water.

In Wilkinson County, the federal government has declared a state of disaster, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is on site in Woodville providing disaster recovery.

The small communities of Fort Adams and Lake Mary both experienced significant flooding during the high water, and 147 homes were affected by the flooding, Wilkinson County Emergency Management Director Thomas Tolliver said last week.

Adams County experienced some flooding in the Anna’s Bottom and Carthage Point Road areas, but that was largely limited to farmland and hunting grounds.

Gauge zero at the Natchez pass is set at 17.28 feet above sea level, so assuming the river bed is at sea level — and in many places it is not — the water is actually 65.28 feet deep at flood stage.

The river crested at approximately 57 feet in late April.