It's been 40 years since Jackson suffered the Easter Flood. Most of downtown Jackson went underwater. The roof of the Coliseum suddenly appeared as an isle of white in the midst of a sea of brown. Homes were lost, businesses were ruined, and countless families suffered the pain of rebuilding as the unforgiving water spared no effort in spreading a path of destruction.
Photos, video, and the original newspaper stories are posted below as we take this unwelcome but necessary step back into the past.
21 comments:
And what pray tell has been done to prevent this from happening again?
it wasn't that bad.
1:59 PM Ugh...you must have lived on a hill because it was bad....
The irony is the number of businesses that have built up on Lakeland Drive east of the river in Flowood. There's a reason there's a levee around BC/BS. Some people will never learn.
Mooslims did it....
2:20 p.m.: You are right, it was bad, but today it would be much worse. Lakeland in Rankin County was not fully developed like it is today. That water caught many buildings, but today there are many, many more. When Town Creek backed up it caught downtown and that's another story today with the Federal building and Post Office. and a flood off Old canton road today would be the end of those houses. Some are on thei last legs now and water would be the final blow. Is there an answer? Not one that is economically feasible. And yes, I am a flood survivor. we pushed our boat off from the makeshift landing at St. Philips Episcopal Church and went into our house though a second story window. I don't live there no mo'
1:59, and what universe do you live and breath in? Obviously nowhere around Jackson in 1979.
Speaking of the 79 flood, I've been told that the Rez was about to host a B.A.S.S. tournament and they were holding an abnormally high amount of water in preparation for the tournament....and then it rained and rained some more and all of a sudden the river basin couldn't handle that much volume.
I can tell that just today, after Saturday's rains, that the Madison county side of the spillway parking area is underwater and the lake is still rising. I know this is a common thing but I don't think man has much control over these type of events.
Have the levee's been raised since 79? Are there are gates that can be closed to protect backwater from flooding Jackson?
It would not be bad...we could just make Jackson "One Flooded City" instead of Two Lakes or One Pond or whatever its called these days. Then we could move all the Jackson residents to Madison and Brandon and put them all in those public schools and we would all be one big happy family, right?
And yet the environmental groups and black leaderships still won't allow the 2 lake or 1 lake McGowan plan. It sickens me. Anywhere except Mississippi this plan would've been implemented.
Was in high school but not in the flood area. We got out of school the whole week. Was the lead story on the national news for a week. We had a competent Mayor in Dale Danks. Hate to see that today with Lubumba in charge.
Let it flood again 3:30 and you will get your wish.
My mother has a copy of a book that the Birdcage Liner of Record published. It contained many of the photos that you are including here. That book also portrayed many individual victims and their recovery efforts. I distinctly remember the book contained a photo of a John boat entering the coliseum.
If Jackson flooded again the Don Lemon types would descend on Jackson like buzzards to feast on the sorrow and blame President Trump for the misery of the Democrat side of the river.
You could expect plenty of race baiting and praising the Mayor's failures as triumphs against racism, while Rankin County's perseverance would be demonized as institutional segregation.
Katrina 2.0 revenge of the climate change racists.
1979 was also the high water mark (no pun intended) for life in Jackson - culturally, economically, esthetically, spiritually. Life was just good. The Metrocenter Mall had just opened as had the Planetarium, Spring days at the Zoo, SEC football games at Veteran’s Memorial in the Fall, concerts at the Coliseum, lunch time string and organ performances at St. Andrew's Cathedral on Capitol Street, downtown restaurants, people out and about on downtown streets, art in the park, the churches, the civic organizations, the arts, the schools, good ole political talk (did Cliff Finch’s wife actually shoot him in the leg?), Eastover, Old Canton Road, a respected medical center, civility. It was also the year that I made the best decision of my life and moved away and out of Mississippi -- Thank-you, Lord! Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you!
You moved out of Mississippi and are now here chortling about the decision 40 years later? Way too late to tell you to get a life. Seek psychiatric help ASAP.
He moved out of Mississippi only to return to the local news blog... males no sense. When I left Massachusetts for Mississippi 12 years ago I only follow the red Sox sports blogs back home. This guy is a typical hater. I now live in Jackson and the weather is better as are the taxes.
Cue in Johnny Cash. How high is the water papa?
The B.A.S.S tournament comment is spot on. Typically the Rex is lowered to "winter pool" to accommodate the winter and spring rains. That year, Ray Scott's tournament, one of the first of its kind, was to be at Barnett. Fluctuating water levels mess with the fish bite as well as decrease the amount of fishable waters. They kept the lake at the higher "summer pool" for the tournament. Then the rains came and they couldn't dump it fast enough. A few years ago they made some big announcement they were going to try to keep the lake at "summer pool" and not draw down the lake. Fishermen rejoiced. Rains came and it started backing up. It got close to being a catastrophe but was avoided. Flood control reservoirs are made for just that, flood control.
Kingfish, on another note, there is a flood event going on in the south delta that could be avoided by installing the already funded steele bayou control structure pumps, but the EPA as well as others killed it. Its been pretty quite on coverage, but its been destructive.
Yep, 8:08, there was a lot going on in '79. And, yet, I believe that if this blog had been around back then you would see many of the same folks making the same comments. I remember moving to Jackson from another part of the state around then and being surprised by the very negative comments people had about Jackson. Even back then you heard, "Jackson is gone," "Won't be here in 10 years," etc. etc. etc.
Anony April 16, 2019 at 8:08 PM, we’ve all heard a broken clock is right twice per day so be glad you made the correct choice by leaving Jackson…but be assured that 1979 was NOT the high water mark for “life in Jackson.”
Younger people could still go out to places like Zoli’s and ride up and down McDowell Rd on the weekends without the fear of being shot for almost another decade.
The icing on the cake for Jackson’s downward spiral came around 1992 when then Mayor Kane Ditto (a really, really good person…but a bleeding heart liberal) decided NOT to hire a new police chief from one of the many capable officers within, but instead chose a new chief from Washington DC.
Not sure if this is true but it has been said that the new police chief actually hired convicted felons to become JPD officers. Regardless, by the mid 1990’s the writing was on the wall and it was past time to get the hell out.
Leftist must destroy cities, at least to a certain point in order to control them. If Jackson’s crime were under control and gentrification occurred, the Mayor and Kenneth Stokes would be out of their current jobs. Destroy, Divide, Conquer.
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