The Mighty Mississippi is about to get a little mightier in the weeks ahead. The river is forecast to crest at a near-record level in Natchez on approximately March 16.

The enormous energy and power of the river are never to be taken for granted. Neither are the resilience and cohesiveness of our community’s people when the river rises.

Our community has faced significant flooding in the past and in some ways we work best when facing adversity. The Great Flood of 2011 was literally one for the record books when the river swelled to an enormous level of nearly 62 feet before it began receding.

Flood planning is already underway. That includes having common sense and avoiding flooded areas. Mississippi issued a temporary ban on recreational boating on the river, its tributaries and oxbow lakes beginning Tuesday.

That makes sense and we hope commercial barge traffic will be slowed soon too as almost each time the river gets high and swift, a towboat seems to have trouble navigating and either hits the bridge or loses a barge.

Natchez is blessed with good, smart emergency management and law enforcement leaders who know when to band together and how to communicate what needs to happen to avoid problems.

We’ve done this before and we’ll do it again.

The Mississippi River is fierce, no doubt, but the strong people of our community are tougher.