Governor declares water emergency for Mississippi capital

Aug 28, 2022, 7:44 PM | Updated: Aug 29, 2022, 7:30 pm

Sonya Walton, 57, was moving all of her possessions out of her North Canton Circle rental home Monday, Aug. 29, 2022 in Jackson, Miss. Walton is disabled and wheelchair bound. When the flood warnings first arrived, she wondered whether family members would be able to reach her. Her son and a family friend were helping her pack Monday. She does not know where she will sleep Monday evening. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

(AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

Rocky Shack, an outreach pastor with Christ United Church, checks in with residents of Jackson's North Canton Club Circle neighborhood on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Shack said the church was looking for residents in need of assistance as floodwaters filled some streets in the neighborhood. Location: Jackson, Miss Photographer: (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

A serene river scene masks the underwater road along Westbrook Road in northeast Jackson, Miss., Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Although the waters were receding during the day, a couple of feet of water still covered parts of the road. Flooding affected a number of neighborhoods that are near the Pearl River. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Residents lined their doors and garages with sandbags to block the water in the North Canton Circle neighborhood of Jackson, Miss., on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Officials said they deployed 126,000 sandbags act as water barriers. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

A gaggle of geese took advantage of the receding Pearl River flood waters to feast on small fish and worms deposited on athletic fields on Westbrook Road in northeast Jackson, Miss., Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Flood water from the Pearl River covered the parking lot at the Mississippi Basketball and Athletics Complex on Westbrook Road in northeast Jackson, Miss., Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Although the waters were receding during the day, a couple of feet of water still covered streets in areas near the river or one of its back flow tributaries that flooded some homes. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Debris laden flood waters surround this mailbox in a northeast Jackson, Miss., neighborhood, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Flooding affected a number neighborhoods that are near the Pearl River. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

A sedan rests in flood waters in this northeast Jackson, Miss., neighborhood, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Flooding affected a number neighborhoods that are near the Pearl River. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

An SUV rests in flood waters in this northeast Jackson, Miss., neighborhood, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Flooding affected a number neighborhoods that are near the Pearl River. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Hinds County Emergency Management Operations deputy director Tracy Funches, checks flood levels in a northeast Jackson, Miss., neighborhood, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Flooding affected a number of neighborhoods that are near the Pearl River. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Hinds County Emergency Management Operations deputy director Tracy Funches, uses a special yardstick to check flood levels in a northeast Jackson, Miss., neighborhood, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. Flooding affected a number of neighborhoods that are near the Pearl River. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Residents in the North Canton Circle neighborhood of Jackson, Miss., on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, were advised to evacuate from impending floodwaters. Some moved out all of their possessions in U-Haul trucks or cars. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

Floodwaters covered the streets in some parts of the North Canton Circle neighborhood of Jackson, Miss., on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

Hinds County Emergency Management Operations deputy director Tracy Funches, right, and operations coordinator Luke Chennault, wade through flood waters in northeast Jackson, Miss., Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, as they check water levels. Flooding affected a number neighborhoods that are near the Pearl River. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Area residents peer over the security gate on the lane to the flooded Madison County, Miss., side of the fishing/boat launch at the Ross Barnett Reservoir Spillway Recreation Area, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022, in Madison County, Miss. Local officials anticipate flooding in neighborhoods near the Pearl River, the results of severe flooding from heavy rains days earlier. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Waters released from the Ross Barnett Reservoir Spillway churn onto the Pearl River, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022, in Rankin County, Miss. Local officials anticipate flooding in neighborhoods near the Pearl River, the results of severe flooding from heavy rains days earlier. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Residents record the rising floodwaters on their cellphones in a northeast Jackson, Miss., neighborhood, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022, in anticipation of expected severe flooding from heavy rains days earlier in mid-Mississippi. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Reservoir police observe the water release from the Ross Barnett Reservoir Spillway onto the Pearl River, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022, in Rankin County, Miss. Local officials anticipate flooding in neighborhoods near the Pearl River, the results of severe flooding from heavy rains days earlier. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

A homeowner keeps an eye on the floodwater's depth as he drives through a northeast Jackson, Miss., neighborhood, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022. Local officials anticipate flooding in neighborhoods near the Pearl River, the results of severe flooding from heavy rains earlier in the week in mid-Mississippi. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

A sand stockpile housed at a Mississippi Department of Public Works maintenance facility in Jackson, Miss., is seen Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said it has deployed 126,000 sandbags to act as water barriers in preparation for flooding. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

Oscar Day, an inventory control worker at a sandbag distribution site, said Jackson residents started preparing their homes for potential flood damage earlier than in years past, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022, in Jackson, Miss. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has deployed 126,000 sandbags to act as water barriers in preparation for flooding. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

Flood waters rise in a Madison County, Miss., mobile home community, near the Ross Barnett Reservoir Spillway, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022. The community, which was severely flooded in 2020, is expected to see severe flooding from the increased release of the accumulated water from heavy rains earlier this week. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

A homeowner rushes through rising floodwaters in this northeast Jackson, Miss., neighborhood, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022. Local officials anticipate flooding in neighborhoods near the Pearl River, the results of severe flooding from heavy rains days earlier. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Veronique Daniels, left, speaks to Red Cross volunteers at a temporary shelter for people displaced by central Mississippi flooding, in Jackson, Miss, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022. Daniels has been homeless for three months and three weeks. She had been sleeping on her mother's back porch when residents in the neighborhood were advised to evacuate. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday night that he is declaring a state of emergency after excessive rainfall exacerbated problems in one of Jackson’s water-treatment plants and caused low water pressure through much of the capital city.

The low pressure raised concerns about firefighting and about people’s ability to take showers or flush toilets.

Reeves said that on Tuesday, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency will start distributing both drinking water and non-potable water in the city of 150,000 residents, and the National Guard will be called in to help. The governor said he understands people in Jackson don’t want to have water system problems.

“I get it. I live in the city. It’s not news that I want to hear,” Reeves said. “But we are going to be there for you.”

A swollen Pearl River flooded streets and at least one home in Jackson on Monday, days after storms dumped heavy rain, but water levels were starting to recede. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the water did not rise as high as expected. Earlier projections showed about 100 to 150 buildings in the Jackson area faced the possibility of flooding.

“We thank the Lord most of all for sparing so many of our residents,” Lumumba said Monday, hours before the governor spoke about the water system.

The National Weather Service said the Pearl River had crested at about 35.4 feet (10.8 meters). That is short of the major flood stage level of 36 feet (10.97 meters).

Jackson has two water-treatment plants, and the larger one is near a reservoir that provides most of the city’s water supply. The reservoir also has a role in flood control.

Lumumba — a Democrat who was not invited to the Republican governor’s news conference — said flooding has created additional problems at the treatment plant, and low water pressure could last a few days.

“What I liken it to is if you were drinking out of a Styrofoam cup, someone puts a hole in the bottom of it, you’re steady trying to fill it while it’s steady running out at the bottom,” Lumumba said.

Jackson has longstanding problems with its water system. A cold snap in 2021 left a significant number of people without running water after pipes froze. Similar problems happened again early this year, on a smaller scale. The city has been under a boil-water notice since late July because tests found a cloudy quality to the water that could lead to health problems.

Legislative leaders reacted with alarm to Jackson’s latest water system problems.

“We have grave concerns for citizens’ health and safety,” Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said in a statement Monday, suggesting the state take a role in trying to solve the issue.

The Republican House speaker, Philip Gunn, said he has been contacted by hospitals, businesses and schools “pleading that something be done to address the water crisis in Jackson.”

As the Pearl River started to rise last week, some Jackson residents started moving furniture and appliances out of their homes, and others stocked up on sandbags. Two years ago, torrential rain caused the river to reach 36.7 feet (11.2 meters) and Jackson homes in the hardest-hit neighborhoods were filled with dirty, snake-infested floodwaters.

Suzannah Thames owns a three-bedroom rental home in northeast Jackson that flooded with about 3 feet (0.9 meter) of water in 2020. Thames hired a crew to move appliances, furniture and other belongings out of the home Friday. She said Monday that the home flooded with about 3 to 4 inches inches (7.6 to 10.2 centimeters) of water late Sunday.

“I thought it was going to be a lot worse,” Thames said. “I feel very fortunate. I feel very blessed.”

Andre Warner, 54, said Monday that his family had put all their furniture up on cinderblocks inside their home to prepare for possible flooding in another northeast Jackson neighborhood.

Warner said the family had to leave home for two weeks during the 2020 flood. Water did not enter their house then, but electricity was off in their neighborhood because other homes were inundated.

“We had to wait for it to drain and dry out for them to cut the grid back on,” Warner said.

The Mississippi flooding was less severe than flooding that caused death and destruction in Kentucky last month. Those floods left at least 39 dead and robbed thousands of families of all of their possessions. Nearly a month later, residents are wrestling with whether to rebuild at the place they call home or to start over somewhere else.