The first time I was in the vicinity of Eagle Lake was four years ago in a boat.

Floodwaters from the Yazoo River covered Mississippi 465 and cut Eagle Lake off from the rest of civilization. I was riding with a Post photographer in a Mississippi Wildlife and Fisheries air boat that was skimming across the water, stopping periodically to check a camp or show us some landmark.

In many areas, the only evidence a house was nearby was a vent or a chimney sticking out of the brown water.

I thought about that trip (one of my first assignments for The Vicksburg Post) as I drove on Mississippi 465 last Saturday morning heading to cover the Eagle Lake community’s Lake Fest.

A lot has changed in those four years since my boat ride. Many of the houses we floated or skimmed by are now gone, demolished as part of a buy-out program with the county and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and replaced now by wide-open fields. The Steel Bayou control structure was operating and Steel Bayou was at a normal level. And water didn’t cover the approaches to the bridge like it did in 2011. Land that in 2011 was under water was now under cultivation with either corn or soybeans sprouting and growing in rows.

My weekend visit to Eagle Lake was not my first since the flood. I went back in 2012 for a story on how the community was recovering after the water went down, and another time in 2013, when many property owners were still fighting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for compensation for damages from the flood.

During my visit in 2012 I noticed a lot of “for sale signs” in front of homes and talked to residents about the community’s future. The residents maintained a sense of optimism that was accented by the assertion that “Eagle Lake is coming back.” The way they stuck together and their sense of purpose reminded me of the people I knew on the Coast who pitched in after a disaster to bring their communities back.

My return trip to Eagle Lake in 2013 bore out that impression. Most of the “for sale signs” were gone and residents were upbeat about their community.

Saturday, neighbors and friends gathered at Lake Fest to listen to music, the roar of outboard motors could be heard from boats on the lake, and former residents who had moved after the flood were back from their homes “in town” to see friends and renew their connection with the community.

Eagle Lake is a beautiful area, and I’m glad to see it come back. And I hope that special feeling the residents have for their community never leaves.

It’s an attitude and feeling that should be copied elsewhere.