VIDALIA — Minor sand boil leakage inside Hesco walls on the Vidalia Riverfront Saturday reminded officials that while the Mississippi River teeters its way down the gauge, the flood fight and 24-hour surveillance continues.

But knowing the river will not climb higher did simmer Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland’s anxiety somewhat Saturday.

“Last night was the first night (since the flooding) I got more than four hours of sleep,” Copeland said.

But Saturday brought with it a new day of boils and bagging.

Copeland said small sand boils inside Hesco barriers surrounding both the Riverpark Medical Center and the Comfort Suites Hotel Saturday caused approximately four to five inches of floodwater to bubble up within the barriers at those facilities.

Water did not reach the inside of either building, Copeland said. Both the medical center and hotel have their own maintenance and security staffs, which addressed the issues as soon as they surfaced.

At the medical center, the sand boil flow was curtailed with approximately 20 regular-sized sandbags, Copeland said.

He said the sand boil at the hotel was similarly treated and both are under control.

A sand boil results when pressure from the river forces water under the levee, displacing soil and forming a hole. Boils can be addressed by building a ring well of sandbags around them, allowing the water pressure to equalize before the boil is plugged.

Despite the now-fixed issues on the riverfront, Copeland said he feels like the flood fight is still on, but winding down.

“I think we’re rounding a curve, and we’re heading home,” Copeland said. “I’ve felt the best today I’ve felt since this started,” Copeland said Saturday.

Concordia Parish Emergency Management Director Morris White said even though he heard forecasts of the crest, it was comforting to actually see the gauge come to a stopping point and start going down.

If there is one thing he has learned, the Mississippi River and its vast variety of factors that make it flow it are unpredictable.

“I’m in my 70s, and I was here for the big flood,” White said. “Water is a dangerous thing, and its unpredictable.”

The river stood at 61.55 at 6 p.m. Saturday, three inches below the National Weather Service’s prediction and 0.22 feet lower than the previous day’s river level.

The NWS forecasted today’s level at 61.8.

An extended forecast by the NWS shows the water to reach 61 feet May 28, 60 feet on May 30 and 58 feet on June 3. By June 17, the water is forecasted to be at 49.2 feet, which is 1.8 feet above flood stage.

Across the river on the island of J.M. Jones Lumber Co., company owner Lee Jones said he was very pleased to hear the river crested early and below predicted levels, but he was still not confident in the temporary levee system.

Workers, some of them second or third generation J.M. Jones employees, worked diligently most of Friday to mend a major weak spot in the levee.

Jones said northbound river traffic has exposed the weak spots in the levee.

He said every other northbound ship that pushes itself up the river causes the need to mend weak spots in the levee.

The levee seemed fairly stable Saturday, Jones said, which may have been attributed to less river traffic than the day before.

It is usually best for the integrity of levees for water to recede slowly, Jones said.

“We don’t have that luxury,” Jones said.

For the lumber company’s site, which has stronger levees beneath the temporary ones to defend a water level of 58 feet, the quicker the water recedes the better, he said.