Entergy has agreed to contribute $76,137 toward the cost of repairing erosion problems at Hennessey Bayou.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen Monday approved an amendment to the city’s escrow account for the project to include Entergy’s contribution. City officials in September learned the city will receive an extra $335,808 in unallocated money from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to go with a $2.238 million NRCS grant it received in April.

The board Aug, 25 awarded a $2.95 million bid from Yazoo contractor Anderson Contracting LLC to fix the problem. The contractor began work Sept. 25.

The NRCS money will cover a portion of the cost to repair and stabilize ongoing erosion problems at the Warrenton Road Bridge and near Entergy’s Baxter Wilson power plant caused by the 2011 flood. Entergy and the city will pay the balance of the project cost.

The city in April 2018 signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help develop a plan to stabilize the west bank of the bayou to build a new bridge on Kemp Bottom Road to replace the one that collapsed in July 2017.

Located off Warrenton Road, Kemp Bottom Road, which is a public road, is the main access to Entergy’s Baxter Wilson power plant.

The board in March 2019 authorized Flaggs to sign an agreement with the Mississippi Transportation Commission releasing $3.73 million in emergency road and bridge funds to replace the bridge. The money is expected to pay for the design and construction of the new bridge.

The erosion problem leading to the bridge’s collapse dates back to the 2011 spring Mississippi River flood when the river crested May 19, 2011, at 57.1 feet, 14.1 feet above flood stage and nine-tenths of a foot above the Great Flood of 1927.

Engineers said the water entering Hennessy Bayou during the flood receded quickly, creating the erosion problems that caused the bridge to collapse.