Issues front and center for flood recovery such as home inspections and relief for businesses will be covered starting at 6 tonight during a wide-ranging community meeting at Vicksburg Auditorium.

Vicksburg city officials, Vicksburg Police Department, Warren County Board of Supervisors, Warren County Emergency Management, Warren County Sheriff’s Office, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Small Business Administration and charitable organizations will be available to answer questions and offer information.

Flood victims will have an opportunity to register with FEMA at the meeting. The Corps also will have a booth for anyone with questions.

Recovery from the Mississippi River’s historic flood level reached in Vicksburg is expected to be slow for low-lying neighborhoods west of North Washington Street and south, where floodwaters cover homes and farmland.

This morning, the river was at 55.9 feet in Vicksburg, down four-tenths of a foot. Levels are predicted to remain higher than 50 feet at the local gauge for about two weeks, according to timelines issued Monday by the Corps. The local gauge is not expected to drop below the 43-foot flood stage until mid-June.

Both ends of U.S. 61 in Warren County and Mississippi 465 are closed due to high water. New estimates issued today by the Corps show closures at Redwood and the Big Black River lifting by Monday and 465 by mid-June.

In a separate advisory Monday, the Mississippi Department of Transportation said all closed roads will reopen when water recedes from pavement and shoulders and crews remove debris, inspect affected roads and bridges, and make repairs. No reopening dates have been announced by MDOT.

“It will be an informed judgment call,” MDOT Central District Engineer Kevin Magee said. “If we find damages, we’ll make the necessary repairs and keep them closed longer.”

Reopening dates in the Corps’ advisories indicate when river stages indicate water should be off road surfaces, not necessarily underlying conditions, said Tim Rogers of the Corps’ Vicksburg District Water Control Division.

Mainline levees in the Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District have held out the massive amount of water flowing down the river, save for spotty instances of sand boils and two slides near Lake Albemarle.

The pair of slides, located next to each other on a 300- to 400-foot stretch on the land side of the levee, were termed “shallow” by the Corps in an update issued Monday by the District.

The slides were “caused by the under seepage of water and saturation of the levee, the slides are simply a failure of the levee surface, not the levee itself,” read part of the update.

About 7,000 tons of rock will shore up the slide, while about 11,000 tons of sand will be used to backfill the area to provide weight and stability while allowing water to seep out.

Eagle Lake remains at 89.7 feet and might not make 90 feet unless it rains in the backwater area, Rogers said. The Muddy Bayou Control Structure was opened April 30 to raise the lake to ease water pressure on the Buck Chute levee, where a sand boil was enclosed with a 2-acre berm.

Levels at the Steele Bayou Control Structure were 105.18 feet on the river side and 89.93 feet on the land side. Stages should equalize around June 20, when the Corps expects to open gates there, according to the updated timeline.