Residents of a nine-block area near sloughing that has wrecked back yards along Pearl Street have been warned to watch for more slides by a notice delivered by the Vicksburg police and fire personnel.

The notice, distributed to residents and businesses between Lee and Speed streets west of Washington Street, says a mudslide, though unlikely, could interrupt gas, water and electrical service. The city and Entergy power company have lines along the railroad right-of-way, next to where the sloughing has been reported for months, as do several private communications companies.

The notice instructs residents to prepare to leave their homes quickly with identification and emergency contact information, medications, pillows, blankets, toiletries and a change of clothing, and that police and fire patrols will sound sirens to signal a slide has begun.

&#8220We don’t anticipate anything happening, but it could,” said Police Chief Tommy Moffett. &#8220We feel like people should have a notice so if anything did happen, there wouldn’t be any kind of mass panic.”

The warnings followed a March 9 meeting among a handful of residents, attorneys, elected officials and Lee Peek, director of engineering for Kansas City Southern Railway, at the home of 36-year Pearl Street resident Gertrude Reed. At that meeting, Peek said slides, perhaps triggered by bulldozer work in the railroad right-of-way, had been stopped and crews would begin restoring the yards as soon as consistent rains relented.

&#8220We’ve stabilized it so it’s not moving,” Peek told residents. &#8220It looks like things are in good shape. Now it’s time to start repairing the surface as soon as the weather allows.”

Peek, reached by phone this morning, said he was not aware of the notice but declined comment on the condition of the land or the status of the project.

At 7 this morning, rain in Vicksburg during the past 24 hours had been recorded at 1.64 inch, and the National Weather Service was forecasting rain throughout today before clearing with sunshine prevailing for the rest of the week.

&#8220Repair work to the residents’ yards will not begin until the weather breaks and the ground dries out,” said KCS spokesman Doniele Kane in a statement this morning that emphasized no houses are in danger. &#8220Nothing has changed about the plan that was communicated to neighbors on March 9.”

The sloughing has affected porches, clotheslines, basketball goals, patios, sheds and electrical poles – several of which have required stabilization by Entergy – and, on some properties, put houses and foundations near the brink of a small ledge. Yards have been tread bare by heavy equipment during the construction of a rock buttress that Peek said has succeeded in stopping the slide.

The buttress was built this month by crews supervised by P.B. Sloan, construction manager for Brandon contractor Foster, Jones and Associates. His crew was finishing the roadbed on which the new track was being built when the first sliding began shortly after Christmas, he said. In addition to the buttress, Peek said the effort was aided by the installation of lateral drainage ditches that let water drain from beneath the surface, preventing the saturation of the fine loess soil that originally caused the soil to slide off the slick, water-resistant clay below.

Several businesses near Pearl Street also received the notice. Carolyn Stephenson, manager of Annabelle Bed and Breakfast at Pearl and Speed streets, said officers delivered the warning Friday and followed up on Saturday to make sure she had received it. Her business is not endangered by the slides, she said, but could feel the consequences of a gas leak or power outage. Stephenson said she thought the vibrations of trains roaring nearby were a major cause of the slides, and a deterrent to business.

&#8220The horn is a nuisance, but the vibrations scare me,” she said, noting that several customers have cut longer stays short after one night because of the trains. &#8220Every train that comes by, it not only shakes the chandelier, it vibrates the whole house. I have brick lattice work, and the bricks are coming apart.”

Omar Nelson, attorney for several Pearl Street residents, said after the March 9 meeting no litigation was pending, but it remained a possibility depending on the progress of rebuilding the land. He could not be reached this morning.