(2/27/03)The Mississippi River is expected to crest at 40 feet March 9 after experiencing an “unusually fast” rise during the past weekend, a civil engineer technician in the Vicksburg District Corps of Engineers said.

“To my knowledge that’s the fastest rise in a 24-hour period since 1974,” Wayland Hill said of the Friday-through-Saturday rise by 4.1 feet.

He said the fast rise can be attributed to rainfall and snowmelt flowing in from the Ohio and Cumberland rivers.

“We had 2 to 5 inches of rainfall in the two rivers and about 4 to 8 inches of snow,” he said.

E.J. Leche, hydrologist for the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center, said the river level at Vicksburg was 35 feet this morning, and it is expected to be 35.9 feet Friday, 36.2 feet Saturday, 36.2 feet Sunday and 37.3 feet Monday.

“Those levels do not take into account any additional rainfall,” he said.

Flood stage is 43 feet.

Warren County Emergency Management Agency operations officer Billy Riddle said the river’s water level should not cause many problems if the water levels do not exceed the predictions.

“Some low-lying areas in Long Lake community will start getting water at about 36.5 feet, and at 39.5 feet the Long Lake access road becomes impassable,” he said. “If the crest stays at 40 feet we’ll be all right; if it gets above 40 feet we’ll watch it closely.”

Long Lake, which lies in the northwest part of Warren County, typically is the first area to flood.

Riddle said the places that will be affected at the current water levels are no longer occupied.

Hill said the Mississippi River at Vicksburg began the month 18 feet below normal, but now is 8 above.

“On Feb. 6, the level was at 5.6 feet,” he said. “The flood level average for today is about 24 feet.”

Hill said the river’s high water season has not even begun yet. “March, April and May are the wettest months; that’s when the Mississippi see it’s highest areas,” he said.

Across the state, rivers that run into the Mississippi, such as the Pearl River, are at higher water levels than usual due to heavy rainfall.

It’s the 30th anniversary year of the Flood of 1973, the second to the Flood of 1927 as the most devastating in the Lower Mississippi Valley.