Unusual January flooding along the Big Black River has left part of a gravel road covered with water and barricaded for safety.

A dip in the gravel stretch of Warriors Trail that runs beside the west bank of the river was completely covered during the weekend and this morning and should not be driven through, Sheriff Martin Pace said.

The section runs between U.S. 80 and Bovina Cut-Off Road. Sheriff’s personnel placed barricades. All area residents have alternate access to their homes from Bovina Cut-Off, Pace said.

Also flooded was a gravel parking area where people often park while fishing in the river, Pace added.

The Big Black forms most of Warren County’s eastern border. Unlike the Mississippi, to the west, the smaller river can rise rapidly when it rains in north central Mississippi.

The road section flooded in 2004 and may flood almost any time, but for it to flood this early in the year is unusual, Pace said.

&#8220Here it is, January,” Pace said of the flooding. &#8220You could almost expect it later in the year.”

Pace said there was no reason to take risks.

&#8220People should just never, ever drive through water that is across a roadway,” Pace said. &#8220There’s just no way that you have of knowing what’s under” the water.

Gravel roads can be especially dangerous because water can wash parts of them away, Pace said. The section will need to be checked by the county road department before it can be reopened, Pace added.

Pace said his department has been checking the road day and night and that by Sunday afternoon the water had receded about 2 feet from its Saturday level, but water still extended across the width of the road.

The National Weather Service’s Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center shows the Big Black’s stage at Bovina as of 4 a.m. today at 31.9 feet, 3.9 feet above its flood stage, 28 feet. The river crested above 32.5 feet on Friday evening and is forecast to fall to 29 feet by Thursday night, the center shows.

The road section is about one-half mile south of Interstate 20 and less than a quarter-mile both south of U.S. 80. and west of the U.S. 80 bridge over the Big Black.

The Big Black’s headwaters are in Webster County, in north-central Mississippi about 30 miles northwest of Starkville. It empties into the Mississippi about nine miles northwest of Port Gibson. Its basin is 160 miles long and 20 to 25 miles wide with elevations of from 650 to 50 feet above sea level, information from the U.S. Geological Survey says.

The Big Black River Basin covers 3,400 square miles and has an average flow near Bovina of about 28,500 gallons per second, the USGS says. The river’s flow has ranged from 500 gallons per second to 690,000 gallons per second.

Rain was in the forecast for Vicksburg for today and Tuesday, with the predicted overnight low 37 degrees and Tuesday’s predicted high 41.