I’ve been learning a lot this week about what exactly takes place when the Mississippi River exceeds flood stage. I know it probably seems a bit less urgent for those of you who have been through this before, but it’s my first time seeing exactly how everything comes together in preparation for the mighty Mississippi stepping out of bounds.

On top of learning about why this happens every few years – notably 2011 and 2019, most recently – I’m being brought up to speed from local officials like John Elfer at the Warren County Emergency Management Agency and Dane Lovell at the City of Vicksburg Public Works Department on how the city and county are able to prep for such an event. Wednesday also happened to be the day my Leadership Vicksburg class was scheduled to visit USACE’s location at the Port of Vicksburg, and the men and women there gave us an in-depth look at how the Vicksburg District operates during such an event, as well during times of low water on the river. It was all fascinating!

But as new as this is to me, it reminds me of something very familiar: an approaching hurricane. I know this part of the South is also impacted by hurricanes, but being from the Gulf Coast, I have plenty of memories of a storm making landfall less than an hour from where my family’s house sat. One of the things both of these events have in common is time. With a hurricane, as with the Mississippi floodwaters, we often knew about the danger days, or even weeks, in advance. That kind of time obviously helps with preparation, but as we all know, things can also change with such a large window of time in play. Sometimes those changes are for the better; sometimes for the worse. In the case of this week’s anticipatory prep work, it seems the river’s rise has slowed a bit, which is helpful. 

But the biggest commonality I see between these two events is the potential for danger due to the sheer force of water. Whether it’s the Mississippi River breaching its banks or the storm surge from a hurricane, water simply cannot be stopped; it’s going to go where it wants. It’s amazing to see the progress we’ve made in the last 100 years in our efforts to divert and control water, but when all is said and done, we’re at its mercy if things get bad enough. I’m sure most of us remember that the majority of the damage in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina wasn’t from wind, but from the storm surge that flooded areas when the levees failed.

But, I’m not writing about the awesome power of water because we’re throwing up our hands and hoping for the best as the high waters approach. Quite the opposite. It’s impressive to see what officials are doing all up and down the river to keep us safe. I’m also learning there are spots in both the county and city that are just going to be under water when the floodwaters make it to our area. That’s just how it goes, I’m told, and residents who have been here any substantial amount of time are aware of that. 

Regardless of those inevitabilities, we’ll still be keeping you up-to-date on where floodwaters are expected to impact our area – including in this edition – in print and online until the danger has passed. But, as we were advised by EMA earlier this week, let’s all just use our common sense.

Whether it’s the river or the Gulf or whatever we’re calling it this week contributing to flooded areas, the rules are the same: don’t try to drive through a flooded street; don’t ignore safety signs of any kind and keep your ears and eyes open for updates and new warnings until the danger is over. After all, water may be something we all need to live, but it’s also one of the deadliest forces on the planet.

Blake Bell is the general manager and executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at blake.bell@vicksburgpost.com.