RECOVERY MODE Elbow grease, cooperation keys FEMA, United Way setting up organizational group
Published 12:33 pm Thursday, June 9, 2011
When the Mississippi River rose to its historic mark in May, Frank Rankin’s home near Chickasaw Road went under — and stayed under water — for a month.
On Wednesday, Rankin said the wood-frame home is a “disaster inside.”
As he rolled window screens back into place, Rankin said recovery and repairs will take plenty of elbow grease.
Officials said recovery also will take coordination among homeowners and several agencies.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has received 807 applications for individual assistance in Warren County, said liaison Bob Tribble. A long-term recovery committee to assist flood victims who have applied for federal aid is in the works, he said.
“What the long-term recovery committee does is help a person or a family get back into a safe, sound and sanitary home,” Tribble said as 19 people from various nonprofit and faith-based organizations met at United Way of West Central Mississippi offices Wednesday. Another session is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday, when the panel’s membership will be discussed.
Assistance that will be offered includes financial advice, help with home rebuilding and supplies, he said. Individual assistance payouts total $4.2 million in 14 counties declared federal disaster areas due to flooding, with $682,141.12 in Warren County, FEMA has said. More than $2.4 million had been paid out in Tunica County.
In Vicksburg, the Mississippi River dropped six-tenths of a foot overnight to 47.8 feet. Its crest at 57.1 feet on May 19 was the highest in Vicksburg since 1927. Stages are expected to remain above the 43-foot flood stage until June 19, according to the National Weather Service River Forecast Center.
In Warren County, 1,340 structures have been evacuated, 707 of them primary dwellings. More than 3,200 people have been displaced.
A 4-mile polyvinyl mat laid on the westernmost stretch of the Yazoo Backwater Levee could be removed in the coming months, with multiple options including recycling the material, said Henry Dulaney, chief of engineering and construction for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg District.
“We’re making plans to get it off the levee,” Dulaney told the Port City Kiwanis this morning. “We’re looking at multiple options of what to do with it.”
Restrictions on barge traffic on the river in early May and the closure of north-south rail service appear to have added to the number of cars crossing the old U.S. 80 bridge. Rail cars crossing the river equaled 25,500 for the month, up from 23,933 in April. Revenue collected for May totaled $89,748.
On Wednesday, the Vicksburg Bridge Commission OK’d a $40,000 quote from Madison-based Key LLC to repair damage to pier 2, struck by a southbound bean barge March 23. The panel also accepted a $1,766.08 check for damages caused to pier 5, hit three days earlier by a 25-barge tow headed north during the river’s first springtime rise. Citing a desire for more favorable language to address the March 23 strike, the commission held back on approving a draft settlement document from shipping firms Bluegrass Marine, which operated both towboats, and Marquette Transportation, which owned the vessels.
Staff writer Manivanh Chanprasith contributed to this report.