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NATCHEZ — Fueled in part by recent heavy rains in the Ohio Valley, the Mississippi River at Natchez and Vidalia is expected to crest above flood stage at 54 feet on April 22.

The flood stage at Natchez is 48 feet. As of Friday morning, the river stage at Natchez was 45.79 feet, up 1.58 feet in the last 24 hours.

What that means for Natchez and Adams County is some flooding in low-lying, rural areas of the county. At about 43 feet, roads in Anna’s Bottom north of Natchez will be covered with water.

At 47 feet, Carthage Point Road in the county will also be covered in water.

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson said the city is watching river levels closely.

“Our Public Works Department is well prepared in the event of flooding on Silver Street. We will be monitoring the stages daily. At approximately 50-51 feet, we will have to shut down Cooper Street, D.A. Bigland and turn Silver Street into two way traffic with no parking along the street. This has been done at times in the past, the last one being 2019 before I was elected. 

“We do ask for everybody’s patience. We do not expect any business closings and we definitely do not expect any flooding of buildings. We are grateful for our high bluff.”

In Vidalia, getting to the 54 foot crest could cause some issues on the riverfront, but Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft said the city is on top of it.

“We have already put Hesco baskets out at the riverfront,” Craft said. “We are supposed to hit 50 feet on Monday, and we are ready for that. We have been meeting about it for a couple of weeks now, and we are doing everything you can think of. We have already gotten with engineers and are lining up other Hesco baskets in the event those are needed.”

He said flood water first shows up in seepage, which means mosquitos would soon become a problem.

“We are going to go ahead and start spraying for those,” he said. “54 feet should not be a problem. It all depends on the snowpack and what is happening with rain up north. We are keeping a close watch on it. Different river levels trigger different actions. We have already checked all of our pumps. Next week it’s supposed to be pretty down south, but I don’t know what’s going to happen up north.”

Chandler Russ, executive director of Natchez Inc. and a member of the county’s port commission, said with the area’s current levee system, flooding should not be a problem for companies located near the port.

“World Energy, Genesis, Innerfab, Lincoln Terminals, Bastec — all that area survived the 500-year flood in 2011, when the river was at about 62 feet,” Russ said. “The only thing that was a concern is in the construction of the ring-levee around the Belwood property, we had to cut the road to the existing levee in order to put culverts in for the ring. They have put the culverts in and put concrete and rock in there and it should be shut off today. We will beat any concerns about the river rising to 50 to 54 feet.”

Russ said before the ring levee was constructed, the Belwood property would start taking on water at 49 to 50 feet, depending on the rain and saturation of the ground.