PICAYUNE — Almost seven inches of rain fell here in a three-day period at the end of last week — Wednesday, Thursday and Friday — and the banks of streams and creeks were overflowing by Friday and Saturday.

Early Saturday morning water was flowing over sections of Liberty Road near West Hobolochitto Creek and over East Sycamore Road near its intersection at West Union Road near East Hobolochitto Creek.

Saturday evening work crews with the Mississippi Department of Transportation where at a flooding site at the intersection of Inside Road and North Beech Street, or old Hwy. 43. Backwaters from Hobolochitto Creek were running over portions of Inside Road and North Beech Street and were flooding the front yard of a home in Westchester subdivision. MDOT crews were slowing traffic down, but allowing motorists to pass.

From Tuesday through Friday, the rain gauge at the Picayune Item at Richardson-Ozona Road recorded 6.75 inches of rain.

National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Ricks said on Friday that between four and 10 inches of rain fell across the Gulf Coast, according to reports from The Associated Press.

While weather officials said this is not the best way to end a drought, the heavy rains did just that, ending a shortage of rainfall stretching back to 2010.

Some drivers in flooded areas of Mississippi and Louisiana were going around barricades and braving crossing the flows, but emergency officials cautioned drivers not to cross a stream flowing over a road. Only a few feet, if it is flowing fast enough, can move a vehicle off the road, said Pearl River County Emergency Management Director Danny Manley.

Said Manley on Saturday, “It looks good. It looks better. The water is receding and going down.”

The National Weather Service lifted a Flash Flood Warning at noon Friday and by Friday evening blue skies were appearing over Pearl River County and by Saturday skies were blue and clear.

However, residents were told to brace themselves for some flooding, even though skies had cleared,  as the runoff headed down East and West Hobolochitto creeks to the main Hobolochitto Creek, which forms behind the Hermitage in Northwest Picayune.

The rainfall was heavy because the system was slow-moving, weather experts said.

Although some minor flooding in areas near the creeks is expected, the worst might be over. Readings on the creeks at Caesar and McNeill, showed floodwaters were receding.

On Saturday at about noon at Caesar, East Hobolochitto was 16.5 feet and falling, and at McNeill on West Hobolochitto the reading was 18.7 feet and falling. Readings had fallen about one foot since Friday. Flood stage at both stations is 15 feet.

The Pearl River at Bogalusa, La., on Saturday about noon was 20.2 feet and very slowly rising. Flood stage there is 18 ft.

The West Pearl River at Pearl River, La., at noon Saturday was 14.8 feet and steadily rising. Flood stage there is 14 feet.

Weather forecasters say the system, a slow-moving cold front that sucked moisture out of the Gulf, worked its way slowly through the region by the weekend. With the system being slow, it was able to drop torrents of rain on the area, said Manley.

Manley said his personnel were monitoring the situation hourly.

County officials said the real problem with flooding is that the worse usually occurs after the system passes, since East and West Hobolochitto creeks are receiving runoff from almost the entire Pearl River County watershed north of Picayune.  A small portion of northeast Pearl River County drains into the headwaters of Wolf River.

When heavy rains cause the creeks to overflow, it backs up streams and ditches that flow into the creeks, causing flooding in neighborhoods and subdivisions that are near the creeks.

By early Thursday morning county officials had reports from residents in some rural subdivisions about light flooding.

Most areas got five-to-six inches of rain before the front passed South Mississippi. Some parts of Louisiana got 15 inches, the AP reported.

Officials were especially worried about some streets in East Picayune and Raven Wood subdivision near Alligator Branch between Nicholson and Picayune.

Officials were also afraid they might have to shut down Sones Chapel Road again after opening it to traffic between McNeill and Millard last week at Double Branch, where a bridge replacement project is on-going. Late reports said the road was still open.