Ben Hillyer/The Natchez Democrat — Monday was the first day crews dismantled the Hesco Bastion instant levees along the Natchez Under-the-Hill riverbank. The galvanized welded mesh frames lined with heavy-duty fabric were lifted out of the place leaving piles of sand behind.

A large log sits up against a fence that two weeks ago were submerged in the floodwaters of the Mississippi River but now is covered in dirt and silt left over from the receding river.

A boat pushes its barge load up the Mississippi River as crews work to dismantle the instant levees that protected Natchez Under-the-Hill.