PICAYUNE —
Picayune city engineer Brooks Wallace said on Monday that a rain gauge at Picayune’s new wastewater treatment plant recorded 22 inches of rainfall from Tuesday, when Hurricane Isaac’s torrential rains began, to early Friday morning when Isaac’s rains abated.
The reading confirmed what officials, and residents, were feeling intuitively: The rains unleashed by Isaac were the heaviest downpours ever recorded here.
Pearl River County Emergency Management Director Danny Manley said FEMA was extending individual help to flood victims Monday at Picayune City Hall in a mobile FEMA disaster recovery unit and information was available on Facebook EOC page.
FEMA officials were at Picayune City Hall at 815 North Beech Street at 9 a.m. Monday, and Manley said that another date will be announced when residents can file for help at City Hall. “That time frame for help is expected to be extended from 30 to 40 days,” Manley said.
Manley also said that the water pressure on Locks 1 and 2 on the barge canal in Washington Parish had officials worried about a collapse of that levee, but he said it posed no danger to the Pearl River on the Mississippi side. As a precaution units of the Nicholson, Pine Grove and Henleyfield volunteer fire departments had been dispatched to Walkiah Bluff Park.
Also on Monday, supervisor and board president J. Patrick Lee with other county officials was doing an assessment at Walkiah to determine the extent of flooding there and what help would be needed by residents who live near the park and along the Pearl.
Manley said most homes along the Pearl River are accessible only by boat and it might be at least a week before people who live along the Pearl can reach their homes again.
He said an estimated 200 people were rescued from flooded homes and neighborhoods by emergency personnel during the height of the storm and immediately following the abatement of wind and rain. Most of the flooding and rescues occurred in the southern end of Pearl River County, in and around Picayune.
He said refugees have been helped with finding shelter by First Baptist churches in Picayune and Poplarville, at Manna Ministries and Pine Grove Baptist Church.
The Red Cross also was in Pearl River County helping, said Manley.
He said only minor injuries had been reported.
The storm on Wednesday, however, claimed one person, a tow truck operator, 52-year-old Gregory A. Parker. A large oak tree fell on his truck during the storm on Goodyear Boulevard.
Officials also said they saw flooding in areas that they had never seen before.
Supervisor Sandy Kane Smith on Sunday said that Pearl River County officials were estimating that 600 homes were flooded along the East and West Hobolochitto creeks, most in the Picayune area, where the two creeks run together at the Hermitage and form the main Hobolochitto Creek, which runs into East Pearl River, just below Walkiah Bluff Park.
On Friday, U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo toured the hardest hit areas in Pearl River County. “We will do all we can to get these people some help,” Palazzo told the press.
On Saturday, Gov. Phil Bryant was at City Hall at noon preparing for a trip through Picayune and portions of Pearl River County. He said all state officials were moving to get help to hard-hit Picayune and Pearl River County. Bryant said he had heard unofficial and unconfirmed reports that more than 600 homes in Pearl River County had been flooded. Picayune officials took Bryant on a tour of flooded areas along with State Sens. Angela Burks Hill and Tony Smith and State Reps. Herb Frierson and Mark Formby. The director of MEMA, Robert Latham, also was in Picayune on Saturday, assessing flooding.
Saturday afternoon, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker met county and city officials at IHOP in preparation for a tour of flooded areas.
Perhaps hardest hit was Westchester in West Picayune. Many homes were flooded up to the eaves, and some residents had to be rescued by boat. Old Hwy. 43 by Westchester and Inside Road remained blocked as late as Sunday evening, but was open on Monday.
Although Westchester homeowners were piling wet furniture, carpet and other furnishings near the road as they began cleaning up their homes as the water had receded by Monday. Car doors were left open to dry out vehicles that were flooded.
A portion of old Hwy. 43 was washed out at Westchester Drive, but old 43 was passable.
Bay Branch inundated homes along Loftin Street in East Picayune and overran a section of East Canal that caused that major road to be closed. Residents in the Bay Branch area have been flooded numerous times in previous storms, but several residents who have lived along Loftin for decades — Arthur Williams and Ronald McDougle — said this was the highest they had ever seen flood waters rise, and the fastest.
As soon as rains stopped Friday morning the crest coming down East Hobolochitto Creek hit East Picayune. The crest was the highest ever recorded on East Hobolochitto Creek at 24 feet. A combination of waters backed up from the main Hobolochitto Creek and up East Hobolochitto and the runoff that gorged the stream caused water to push further into the Loftin Street neighborhood than it ever had before.
Supervisor Lee said over the weekend that Pearl River was still rising and had not crested. Officials said the Pearl River was supposed to crest Monday or Tuesday.
At 8 a.m. Monday readings at Pearl River, La. , were 18.25 feet and rising. Flood stage there is 14 feet. The West Pearl was expected to crest there at 19.5 feet on Tuesday.
At Bogalusa, La., the main Pearl River was 20.97 feet and steady. Flood stage there is 18 ft.
Supervisor Smith confirmed that FEMA emergency flood management personnel was supposed to be here on Sunday to do an assessment of flood damage and that the county was trying to find a place to house displaced flood victims. Churches, charitable groups and the Red Cross were helping.
Lee said, “It’s hard to get a correct figure. But I, like Sandy Kane, have heard the figure 600 when applied to homes damaged by the flood. In Westchester some of the homes are flooded up to the eaves,” said Lee.
“What we are doing right now and have to do in a hurry,” said Smith on Saturday, “is find these displaced people a place to stay, a dry place.”
Lee said the waters had already surpassed the predicted crest by weather experts on the Bogue Chitto and Pearl rivers.
The Walkiah Bluff area was hit hard, too.
Homes all along the East and West Hobolochitto creeks were flooded and some residents had to be evacuated from their homes by boat. The White Sand Baptist Church on Mississippi Highway 26 West was devastated by rising waters from West Hobolochitto Creek, which runs near the church grounds.
West Hobolochitto drains portions of the central and western portions of Pearl River County from sections north of Poplarville all the way down to Picayune where it joins the East Hobolochitto Creek in the back of the Hermitage in northwest Picayune to form the main Hobolochitto Creek, which flows into the East Pearl.
It was the main Hobolochitto and West Hobolochitto that devastated Westchester.
Said Smith, “There is no doubt that this has got to be the worst in county history as regards flooding homes and people’s property.”
Said Lee, “Everybody you talk to say this is the worst they have ever seen it. Old-timers say that they have never seen water over I-59, which happened this time near Poplarville when Wolf River left its banks, and on Boley Avenue one resident who has lived there for 40 years said water was in his house and that had never happened before.”
Wicker, on Saturday, said he was on a “fact-finding mission” and local officials took him to Westchester, East Picayune and the Walkiah Bluff area.
“I have a lot of friends down here, and I wanted to come down and see if there is any way I can help, and if there is, I am going to do so,” Wicker told the press.
Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano flew into Stennis at the Kiln and met with officials on Sunday at a Bay St. Louis fire station, and told them that she wanted information of damages and that she would do her best to get aid.
President Obama was in New Orleans on Monday, visiting storm victims and surveying the damage.
Isaac was a Category 1 storm as measured by wind, but it was big and dumped record rainfalls on southeast Louisiana and South Mississippi.
Homepage
Related Photos
-
On Monday a portion of old 43 at Westchester Drive was blocked, above, because flood waters running over the road washed out a portion of the highway, and residents of Westchester began gutting and cleaning up their homes, top photo, after flood waters receded over the weekend. 22 inches of rain fell in Picayune in three days during Isaac. David A. Farrell
Officials now trying to assess damage; 22 inches of rain fell in Picayune in three days
- Local News
-
A private citizen offered helicopter service to assist in the search for two fugitives wanted by U.S. Marshals on charges of resisting arrest and aggravated burglary out of Tenn.
-
Fugitives go on the run in Picayune
A manhunt is underway as U.S. Marshals search for two fugitives out of Tennessee wanted on charges of aggravated burglary and resisting arrest.
U.S. Marshals went to a vacant residence on Pea Ridge Road on Wednesday that was believed to house the two fugitives. -
PRC SALUTATORIAN
Pearl River Central High School salutatorian Haleigh Elizabeth Ratliff will speak at the school's graduation exercises at 7 p.m. Friday at the high school stadium.
-
U.S. Marshals, local officials search area for fugitives
The U.S. Marshal's Service, the Pearl River Sheriff's Department and the Picayune Police Department are currently searching for two fugitives wanted for charges in Tennessee.
-
Valente defeats Watkins in precinct 1 race
Tammy Valente won the GOP runoff with incumbent Larry Watkins in precinct one in unofficial results.
-
Deputies arrest meth, cocaine suspects
Deputies arrested a couple on various methamphetamine charges on Tuesday, May 14, following an investigation by Pearl River County Sheriff’s Dept. investigators and the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Deputies also made an arrest for cocaine that same day.
-
Fugitives go on the run in Picayune
- Sports
-
-
Saints ready to practice with Payton again
Even as Sean Payton tried to make the best of his one-season bounty banishment from the NFL by spending time with his children, getting in shape and playing golf, he often compared his punishment to prison time.
He missed his work that much, his players say, adding that his return has infused Saints headquarters with a fresh intensity leading up to Tuesday’s opening of voluntary offseason practices. - Wildcats honored for efforts
- Season ends for Maroon Tide
- Season ends for Maroon Tide
- Tide stays alive
-
Saints ready to practice with Payton again
- Lifestyles
-
-
Arboretum Paths
At the recent Master Naturalist training held at the Crosby Arboretum, Master Gardener Susan Swope discussed how using more natives in our landscapes can save us both time and money. She went on to describe some methods well-suited to lazy gardeners. One was to create planting beds in lawn areas. First, mow the grass as short as possible, then add layers of newspaper or cardboard, add a thick organic layer such as leaves, and there you go— less grass to mow.
- CBAC Did you know? program highlights dangers to senior citizens
- 2013 Partners for Pearl River County By Jodi Marze
- Tami Harris takes state
- Arboretum Paths
-
- State News
-
-
Fire chief says search almost complete in Oklahoma
The search for survivors and the dead is nearly complete in the Oklahoma City suburb that was smashed by a mammoth tornado, the fire chief said Tuesday.
- Indian guest workers sue company in Miss., Texas
- Man wants pay for snakes seized in Miss. porn case
- Tornado churns through Oklahoma City suburbs
- Tchnology can speed emergency response
-
Fire chief says search almost complete in Oklahoma
- International
-
-
Argentine Jorge Bergoglio elected Pope Francis
Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope Wednesday and chose the name Francis, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.
Looking stunned, Francis shyly waved to the crowd of tens of thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter’s Square, marveling that the cardinals needed to look to “the end of the earth” to find a bishop of Rome. - Pope Benedict VXI resigning
- Suicide bomber kills guard at US Embassy in Turkey
- EU summit ends without budget deal
- Govt to let Cubans travel freely
-
Argentine Jorge Bergoglio elected Pope Francis
- Opinion
-
-
Not your mother’s Ladies’ Home Journal
By Rheta Grimsely Johnson/Syndicated columnist
I haven’t seen the Ladies’ Home Journal in about a million years, except maybe in the dentist’s office when I was trying to avoid a television permanently set on Fox News.
Somebody’s grandchild was selling magazines for a school project, and Ladies’ Home Journal was the only one on the list I recognized. Now it comes to the house.
Let’s just say: It’s not my mother’s Ladies’ Home Journal. This month, right behind a feature called “A Country of People Who Never Stop Eating” is one called “Nice Girls Do Get Tattoos.” - Health care market needs oversight
- VA’s appalling failures not recent
- Dolley Madison politically savvy
- Mississippi isn’t immune from national college tuition trends
-
Not your mother’s Ladies’ Home Journal
- News Distribution Network
-
US Marshalls dig through rubble in a neighborhood on 149th Street and Santa Fe Drive hoping to find survivors from a tornado that hit Moore, Okla., Monday, May 29, 2013. Kyle Phillips
-
Okla. officials vow not to quit looking until everyone is found
The tornado that killed 24 people and injured at least 100 others in the Moore and Oklahoma City area cut a 17-mile-long path that started in Newcastle and ended at Lake Stanley Draper. Nine of the dead are children.
- The Big One: Preparing for mid-America earthquake
- 5 takeaways from the IRS report
- Warning Signs: Technology speeds disaster alerts, response
- Do school bus drivers undergo background checks?
-
Okla. officials vow not to quit looking until everyone is found
- CNHI Special Projects
-
A man check his car on Interstate 35 after a tornado ripped through Moore Monday afternoon.
-
Audio: How can we better prepare for tornadoes?
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
- The Big One: Preparing for mid-America earthquake
- Technology speeds disaster alerts, response
- Warning Signs: Technology speeds disaster alerts, response
- Tips for tornado readiness
-
Audio: How can we better prepare for tornadoes?
Texas Students Coach Teachers on Fitness
New Forecasting Tool Eyed for Hurricane Season
Meet MJ, the Bike Riding Tabby Cat
Britain Attack Believed Linked to Radical Islam
Raw: Kevin Durant Tours Moore After $1M Pledge
Weiner Launches Bid to Become NYC Mayor
Okla. Teens Get Video of Deadly Tornado Overhead
Man Shot While Questioned in Boston Probe
School Storm Protection Spotty in Tornado Zones
9-year-old Tornado Victim Loved Family, Singing
Moore Native Toby Keith Tours Tornado Damage
Oklahoma Survivors, Heroes Survey Damage
Okla. City Mayor: Up to 13K Homes Hit by Tornado
Raw: Aftermath of Deadly Attack in London
Paperless Scanner, Vision of the Future
Florida FBI Shooting Has Boston Bombing Links
Garcetti Elected Los Angeles Mayor Over Greuel
Raw: New Video of Deadly Oklahoma Tornado
IRS Official Pleads 5th Amendment
Lawyer: Feds Investigating Susan Powell Case
