Floodwaters could linger for weeks

Vicksburg, Mississippi (CNN) -- Residents eager to put behind a historic flood that submerged much of Vicksburg face a long and slow goodbye, forecasters said Friday, predicting that the river could remain out of its banks until at least mid-June.

The Mississippi River is not expected to return to its 43-foot flood stage in Vicksburg until after June 14, which is 46 days after it climbed out of its banks, said Amanda Roberts, a National Weather Service hydrologist said.

It crested at 57.1 feet Thursday, and the weather service predicts the crest will hold through at least Saturday morning in Vicksburg.

The flood also claimed the first victim in the state -- Vicksburg resident Walter Cook -- who died after being pulled from floodwaters, according to the Warren County coroner, who said Thursday it's not clear how Cook ended up in them.

For some, the cresting floodwaters, which damaged hundreds of homes and displaced 2,000 Vicksburg residents, was cause for relief. For others, it was a reason to celebrate.

Eddie Monsour, who owns a waterfront restaurant, threw a "River Crest Party" on Thursday night.

It was a big success, he said.

"Usually we've got a good crowd, but nothing like it is now. We're probably 200 people more than we usually are," Monsour told CNN affiliate WJTV.

"There's tourists here. People from all over the state just coming to see the water. They've never seen anything like it."

The patrons also included local evacuees such as Louise Roland of Eagle Lake.

"(I'm) just here to celebrate the river cresting," Roland said. "Hopefully, it'll start going down soon."

All but about a dozen of Eagle Lake's 600 residents evacuated, according to CNN affiliate WLBT.

"We talked about it and thought about it, but this really wasn't a decision at all," one of the holdouts, Cindy Roberson, told WLBT. "This is home, this is where our stuff is."

Local officials caution that some area residents may have to wait to return to their homes.

Flooded houses, they say, pose a variety of dangers, including debris, hazardous waster, gas leaks and the presence of snakes or other potentially dangerous animals forced out of their habitats and into residential areas by the rising floodwaters.

"Right now we're moving to the recovery stage," Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield told CNN.

"Our first priority, I believe, should be public safety, to continue to encourage our residents and onlookers to stay free of the water."

Winfield said that law enforcement officials are patrolling evacuated areas of the city to help ensure that abandoned homes and businesses aren't burglarized. Each flooded property must be "assessed" before an owner can return to it, he said.

Residents who live along the river should be vigilant, said Marty Pope, a senior hydrologist with the weather service.

Warren County, which includes Vicksburg, has "several hundred homes that have water" and about 2,000 residents have been displaced, Sheriff Martin Pace said.

County residents are accustomed to flooding and know what to do, but none have experienced it at this magnitude, according to Pace.

The river began cresting ahead of schedule Wednesday night probably because an old levee system in the Mississippi city of Greenville was breached May 13 and spread the flood's flow, Pope said.

The Mississippi River is more than 14 feet above flood stage at Vicksburg and more than a foot over the record set in the city in 1927.

Water levels in Natchez, a city about 70 miles south, are nearly 4 feet beyond the record, with the river at 61.9 feet Thursday night -- and the crest isn't expected to arrive until Saturday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers kept a watchful eye on the Yazoo Backwater Levee, which residents near Vicksburg were counting on for protection. It is designed to keep water from backing into parts of the Yazoo River delta.

A slide was detected on the mainline Mississippi levee at Albemarle Lake, the Corps of Engineers said Thursday. It occurs when the integrity of a levee is undermined because dirt and sand are being eroded, said Corps spokeswoman Eileen Williamson.

"It will take about a full week to repair," she said.

Farther south, where the Mississippi River has not yet crested, residents were working to clear out their homes and find ways to get by.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has asked for federal assistance in grappling with flooding resulting from the Morganza Spillway, where 17 bays have been opened in hopes of sparing New Orleans further downstream.

Mandatory evacuations will be in effect Saturday -- beginning at midnight Friday -- in Butte La Rose, Happy Town and the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area, the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office said.

By Saturday morning, "the area will be secured and no one will be allowed to enter," the parish said in a news release.

Officials said spillway gates are likely to be open for weeks. It will be weeks before the river falls below flood stage, allowing evacuees to return.

The flood is the most significant to hit the lower Mississippi River valley since at least 1937. It has affected nine states so far: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

CNN's Phil Gast and Ed Payne contributed to this report.

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Floodwaters carve destructive trail

Vicksburg, Mississippi (CNN) -- The overflowing Mississippi River dealt anguish to its namesake state Thursday, reaching a historic height at Vicksburg, sending backwater up the Yazoo River, which has swallowed a home owned by the governor, and claiming the life of a 69-year-old man.

As the flood's trail of destruction worked its way south, Vicksburg saw the river crest at the expected peak of 57.1 feet early Thursday, hours ahead of the original forecast.

The National Weather Service predicts the crest will hold through at least Saturday morning. "Residents who live along the river need to keep an eye out and be vigilant," said Marty Pope, a senior hydrologist with the weather service's Jackson, Mississippi, office. "We're not going to fall to the kind of levels we got to during the large 2008 flood until early June, and won't fall below flood stage until mid-to-late June."

The river began cresting ahead of schedule Wednesday night, probably because an old levee system in Greenville, Mississippi, was breached last Friday and spread the flood's flow, Pope said.

The Mississippi is more than 14 feet above flood stage at Vicksburg and more than a foot over the record set in the city in 1927.

A Vicksburg resident, Walter Cook, died after being pulled from floodwater in Warren County, Mississippi, the county coroner said Thursday. It is the first reported death linked to the flooding in the state.

Emergency workers with the fire department pulled him from the water at 9:35 a.m. Tuesday and took him to River Regional Medical Center, where Cook was put on life support, Coroner Doug Huskey said. He died early Thursday.

Officials do not know how Cook ended up in the floodwater, the coroner said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was keeping a watchful eye on the Yazoo Backwater Levee, which residents near Vicksburg were counting on for protection. It is designed to keep water from backing into parts of the Yazoo River delta.

The backwater levee was being "armored" by a heavy plastic coating to prevent it from washing out, said Charlie Tindall, attorney for the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners.

But the Yazoo River backwaters were already claiming territory and property. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was among residents who watched rising waters swallow their houses and lands Wednesday.

Barbour's spokeswoman confirmed that a house owned by the governor in his native Yazoo County was flooded. The house is on a lake in central Mississippi near the backwater-flooded Yazoo River.

A slide was detected on the mainline Mississippi levee at Albemarle Lake, the Corps of Engineers said Thursday. A slide occurs when the integrity of a levee is undermined because dirt and sand are being eroded, said Corps spokeswoman Eileen Williamson.

The slide was detected Wednesday and work began immediately to repair it. "It will take about a full week to repair," she said.

Farther south, where the Mississippi River has not yet crested, residents were working to clear out their homes and find ways to get by.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has asked for federal assistance in grappling with flooding resulting from the Morganza Spillway, where 17 bays have been opened in hopes of sparing New Orleans further downstream.

"As water from the Morganza Spillway is released into the Atchafalaya Basin, the impact to our rural communities and the industries upon which they rely will be dramatic and long-lasting," Jindal wrote the U.S. Department of Interior on Wednesday, his office announced Thursday. "I am requesting your immediate consideration of available assistance and recovery programs for our recreational and commercial fishing, hunting, and eco-tourism industries."

Mandatory evacuations will be in effect Saturday -- beginning at midnight Friday -- in Butte La Rose, Happy Town and the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area, the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office said.

By 8 a.m. Saturday, "the area will be secured and no one will be allowed to enter," the parish said in a news release.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate praised the efforts under way along the Mississippi. "Fortunately, the system is working as designed between the Army Corps of Engineers and the design structures and where they are having to open the spillways, they've been able to take pressure off the mainline levee," he said at an event in Maryland.

Officials said spillway gates are likely to be open for weeks, and it will be weeks before the river falls below flood stage, allowing those who have evacuated to return.

The flood is the most significant to hit the lower Mississippi River valley since at least 1937. It has affected nine states so far: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Although recovery is a while off for areas that have already seen the worst of the floods, Tunica, Mississippi saw another step forward Thursday, with the return of a key economic driver for the region. The Tunica Roadhouse Casino announced it would reopen Thursday afternoon, the second to return to business in two days.

CNN's Ed Payne contributed to this report.

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For Louisiana town, a collective gasp as it braces for floodwaters

Butte La Rose, Louisiana (CNN) -- On a two-lane road that cuts through a dense forest of Louisiana cypress trees, intermingled with narrow, dark creeks, sits a small community trapped in the path of a looming disaster.

Hundreds of people packed into the Butte La Rose firehouse to learn about the flood projections from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Col. Ed Fleming delivered the dire news.

"Listen to me, listen to me, OK," he said. "I'm telling you the depth of water from right here will be 15 feet."

The number stunned the crowd.

Pierre Watermeyer turned to friends and said, "It's over with, it's over with."

Open story: iReporters/CNN journalists cover the flood

The 15-foot flood prediction in Butte La Rose is based on the Corps inundation map if and when the Morganza Spillway is opened.

In the coming days, it's expected that the Mississippi River Commission will give the Corps permission to open the floodgates of the Morganza Spillway.

Residents flee as officials await word on spillway

That will redirect floodwaters from the Mississippi River through the Atchafalaya River Basin, which runs between Baton Rouge and Lafayette south toward Morgan City.

There are more than 800 homes in the Butte La Rose area of St. Martins Parish, which sits right in the flood path. It's home to an eclectic collection of Cajuns who've come to this hideaway for generations to drift through the hidden waters catching crawfish. They call their homes "camps."

Each has funny names like Timbuktu, Abracadabra and Bahama Mama's.

Watermeyer finished designing and painting his red and yellow camp sign a few weeks ago, calling his home "Last Dance."

"I always wanted to name the camp Last Dance," he said as he packed his belongings.

But now, he is racing against the clock to salvage what he can before the floodwaters start to swell and creep out of the tree lines.

He's removed cabinets, sinks, the refrigerator and furniture, and he even plans to disconnect his air-conditioning unit and take that, too.

Butte La Rose will soon be a ghost town. Residents are packing up and heading out.

"It's just a somber mood. Everybody's just doing what they got to do," Watermeyer said. "At least we have time to get out."

After the town meeting in the town firehouse, Kelli Trimm stood next to her husband, sobbing.

"It's worse than we thought," Trimm said. "It's going to take everything, everything we've got. It's scary. It's going to take out our whole community."

Trimm and her husband moved to Butte La Rose after her husband lost a leg while rescuing people after Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana.

It's worse than we thought. It's going to take everything, everything we've got. It's scary. It's going to take out our whole community.
--Kelli Trimm, resident

She said it's taken them five years to pay for their modest home. Inside the firehouse, Fleming could sense the tension and fear.

Stunned residents just stared at him, as if they were waiting for someone to tell them they'd just woken up from a horrifying nightmare.

In a thick Massachusetts accent, Fleming told the audience about moving 14 times in his 22-year military career.

The crowd got quiet as the colonel leaned over the podium and his voice started to quiver.

"It's an interesting thing," Fleming said. "When that moving truck drives away, and you're standing in your driveway with your family and a couple of suitcases and a box. That's when you find out what's important to you."

The poignant moment came with one last ominous warning.

It will take almost two days for the waters to start rushing into Butte La Rose after the floodgates of the Morganza Spillway are opened. After that, officials say the floodwaters could sit here until mid-June.

"When they tell you it's time to evacuate, you need to heed their warning because it's serious," Fleming told the crowd.

With that, the residents of Butte La Rose returned to their camps and kept loading trailers with boxes full of personal treasures.

Watermeyer says he plans to stick around Butte La Rose until the water starts to touch his newly painted "Last Dance" camp sign.

He wants to take that picture, then pack up the sign and head for higher ground.

But Watermeyer makes it clear that he will be back, even if it takes weeks.

"It's not going to be the last dance, it's not going to be. We'll dance again around here," he says.

CNN

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