NATCHEZ &045; The Corps of Engineers has entered Phase 1 flood fighting to ensure that rising Mississippi waters don’t endanger homes, businesses and land.

Chief of Water Control Robert Simrall with the Vicksburg district Corps office said Wednesday’s gauge reading of 48 started the phase. Flood stage at Natchez is 48. The river is predicted to crest at 53.5 on Jan. 29.

The river is rising about half a foot a day.

Though Corps officials will start riding the levees in Concordia Parish and checking the base of levees, Vidalia Corps area engineer Tom Matthews said he was not anticipating any problems.

&uot;Everything is in good condition,&uot; Matthews said. &uot;The levees have been improved greatly since the 1973 flood.&uot;

The river crested at 56.7 in 1973.

The Vidalia riverfront area, which is not protected by a levee, is about 77 mean sea level, meaning it would take a gauge reading of 60 to cover the sidewalk, Matthews said.

The gauge doesn’t measure from the floor of the river, it only measures from mean sea level.

The riverfront levee is 89 msl, he said; it would take a gauge reading of 72 to top the levee.

The highest gauge reading ever in Natchez was 58 in 1937.

Since cresting the levee is not a realistic concern, Matthews said the Corps and the levee board would spend their time checking the stability of the levees.

Levee checks start Friday and will continue for the next several weeks. Engineers will be checking for seepage problems, water flowing under the levee or levee slides caused by water saturation.

Matthews said it is typical for levees to slope a little with the weight of the water each year, but the Corps works continually to stabilize them.

The parish does have several communities, including Deer Park and Old River, that have already been covered in water and are using only boat transportation. Residents of these areas expect annual flooding and have their homes on stilts.

Once the river crested at its merger with the Ohio River start in Cairo, Ohio at 53.2 on Monday. Now it’s just a matter of time before that water reaches Natchez, Simrall said.

&uot;The water is on the ground already,&uot; he said. &uot;The rainfall has already occurred and the water is coming to us.&uot;

The possibility of higher waters depend on future rainfall. Once the river crests the waters will remain high for several days before slowly moving south.

Pending future rainfalls, the current flood stage waters should be completely gone by spring flood season, Simrall said. Current waters are abnormally high for this time of the year, he said.

If rainfall keeps the water high potential spring flooding could be a concern, Matthews said.

&uot;It’s hard to predict what mother nature is going to do,&uot; Matthews said. &uot;We could have a normal rainfall, or we could have an abnormal rainfall.&uot;