VIDALIA — Water worked its way under the temporary levees on the Vidalia Riverfront Sunday evening, filling in the area between the Hesco baskets and the Vidalia Convention Center.

The water entered through a sand boil that formed in the parking area north of the convention center at approximately 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Mayor Hyram Copeland said.

The convention center has not been flooded, and the mayor said inmates have been working around the clock to protect it with further sandbags.

Giant sandbags dropped by helicopter will be used to fill the hole formed by the boil, Copeland said.

The water was only in the area surrounding the convention center and had not breached the instant levees around other structures on the riverfront.

Once the boil is addressed pumps will be brought in to remove water from inside the instant levees, and the Hesco boxes on the northern side of the convention center will be shored up, Copeland said.

The major levees protecting the city are still holding strong, and the mayor said rumors that they had broken on the north end of the riverfront were untrue.

“This has nothing to do with the mainline levee,” he said. “Our mainline levees are in excellent condition. “These (sand boils) are just issues on the riverfront we expected.”