There was a packed house at Holly Bluff Baptist Church on Thursday July 18th for a Recovery-Resources meeting involving the backwater flooding that has been going on in the area for several months now. The meeting was opened with a welcome and prayer and then continued with information regarding how the situation got to be as it is. The meeting then turned to sources of information in regards to recovery and clean-up.
Peter Nimrod with the MS Levee Board and Brad Ferguson gave a presentation on the excessive rain fall in the Mississippi River Basin as well as the Sunflower River basin that has led to the current historical flooding event. The issue of the pumps not being in place at the Steele Bayou flood control structure was also discussed and how much of a difference they could have made in preventing such a disaster. The flood has caused millions of dollars in property loss as well as the tremendous environmental disaster with damaged wet lands and dead and dying wildlife in the area.
Ironically, the reported reason the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency refused to allow the pumps to be installed in the first place, was the negative impacts the pumps would cause on the environment.
Representatives from MEMA, FEMA, UMCOR, MS State Extension Service, Warren/Yazoo Behavioral Health, Yazoo Valley EPA, Entergy, MDOT, and other agencies were on hand to offer their help, and information on how to get assistance for recovery efforts, as well as, Safety and Health information.
You can watch the entire archived meeting on Power107tv Channel 1.
Recovery-Resources Meeting – 7-18-2019
