FERRIDAY — Heavy rainfall in the Miss-Lou Thursday soaked Ferriday-area resident Vivian Carter’s house with several inches of water and trapped her inside for a majority of the flooded day.

But the damage done by the severe thunderstorm that moved across Adams County and Concordia Parish at approximately 7:30 a.m. left different trails of destruction on each side of the river.

Multiple residents in Ferriday were trapped inside their homes because of the rising waters and relied on Concordia Parish Sheriff’s deputies to arrive in a boat to help them evacuate.

While no boat arrived at Carter’s house, the water from the storm did begin entering her house at approximately 3 a.m., causing her to think quickly on her feet.

“I got out the Shop-Vac and vacuumed until about 4 a.m., and then I was just so tired I went to bed and slept until 6 a.m.,” Carter said.

When she got up, she got back to work.

“I got the mop, and mop, mop, mopped some more,” Carter said. “I have a lot of cleaning to do. It sure was a mess.”

During the day, the water remained high, and Carter said she was unable to open the front door because it would let more water into the house.

“I had this one dry spot in the kitchen, and if I opened that door it would get me,” she said.

The rainfall also increased the water levels at Lake Concordia enough to close it down to all boat traffic until further notice.

In Adams County, Emergency Management Director Stan Owens said he had gotten approximately a dozen reports of roads blocked by mudslides or trees.

But the high drama of the day came after Robins Lake — which is located in a basin and fills quickly after a rainfall — filled and then overtopped its levee, causing a portion of the levee to slough off as the water ran over it.

While county crews worked to stabilize the slough, Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputies knocked on doors in the surrounding houses to inform the residents of a voluntary evacuation.

By 5 p.m., the levee and the road — the surface of which crosses the levee — were stabilized. Owens said the structure is stable for the time being, but that the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has in the past instructed the county to keep the lake level at 17 feet below the road surface level.

“We are going to have to keep a good eye on it and keep the (lake level) down,” he said. “We’re expecting three to six more inches of rain from Sunday to Tuesday, so we will keep the (lake) siphons pumping.”

Natchez Detective Jerry Ford said police responded to a tree that fell partially on a Bishop Street house. Police helped the resident get out of the house.

The department also responded to a washed out driveway on East Stiers Lane, a mudslide on St. Catherine Street, flooding on Jefferson and Broadway streets and a tree down on Linden Avenue.

Natchez Public Works Supervisor Justin Dollar said public works crews worked Thursday to clear mudslides on Lower Woodville, Old Washington and Learneds Mill roads, drainage problems on Jefferson and Broadway streets and downed the trees on Bishop Street and Linden Drive.

St. Catherine Creek also topped its banks, flooding the land on both sides and coming close to a few houses in the Woodhaven Subdivision.

Entergy crews were also out clearing trees in areas with power outages, Natchez Entergy Customer Service Manager Tim Runnels said.

Runnels said the company had two broken poles and several limbs on power lines after the storm moved through the area. He said 300 customers on Liberty Road were without power for most of the day. Other outages included 86 customers on Bishop Street, 42 on Linden Drive, 22 on Itasca Drive and others in scattered areas.

The Miss-Lou was under a tornado watch for most the morning and under a flood warning until 6:45 p.m.

The National Weather Service forecasts mostly sunny weather today, but heavy rainfall and thunderstorms returning Saturday and Sunday.

 

Photos from The Natchez Democrat staff and readers of Thursday’s flooding and damage from the Thursday’s storm. Share your photos at newsroom@natchezdemocrat.com.