A little flood education

[Wingman]

Had to wrap my mind around this yesterday talking to Dan P.

The levee system on the MS River that starts at Memphis goes all the way down to where the Yazoo enters the MS just north of Vicksburg. Then the Yazoo levee picks up and wraps all the way back up through Delta National, up the west side of the Whittington Canal (west levee of Panther Swamp), hits the main Yazoo levee just south of Silver City and goes up past Belzoni, all the way up toward Greenwood (and maybe a little farther, I'm not sure).

So you have all of the Delta west of the Yazoo and east of the MS surrouned by a levee. The Sunflower River flows from north of Clarksdale and the Quiver flows from near Webb. The Quiver runs into the Sunflower between Indianola and Moorhead. The Sunflower continues south all the way down to DNF, between Rolling Fork and Holly Bluff. The Sunflower runs into the Yazoo on the south end of the Forest and there is a gate there (Little Sunflower Control Structure). If the gate is shut, the Sunflower turns SW and follows a man-made channel right beside the Yazoo levee, under 61 just north of Redwood, and then it joins Steele Bayou. There is another gate here (Steele Bayou Structure) that can also be closed off. Deer Creek and every tributary in the Delta that doesn't run into the Coldwater, Tallahatchie or Yazoo north of Belzoni eventually drains down to one of these 2 structures. When they shut them, it's like putting the plug in the bathtub. There is no way for the water to get out of the Delta until the Yazoo/MS drops below the level of the water on the Delta side of the structures.

Now, jump across to the east side of the Yazoo. There is a levee from a little north of Greenwood where the Yalobusha comes into the Tallahatche, which is where the Yazoo starts. This levee protects everything between the Yazoo and the hills. There is a gap somewhere south of Yazoo City, but for the most part, the narrowing strip between the hills and the Yazoo all the way down to Redwood is protected by a levee. When the Yazoo gets up, all the creeks coming out of the hills get backed up if the control structures that go under the levee are shut.

[Wingman]

But if don't have a bunch of rainwater coming out of those creeks, the "hill side" of the Yazoo will be fine.

There are a couple of gaps in this east levee. One is just south of Belzoni where Tchula Lake Run enters the Yazoo. When the Yazoo gets high, it will back up into Tchula Lake and eventually into Townsend Lake area. This will flood low-lying areas between Belzoni and the Holmes County line.

There is also another gap. The east channel levee starts just south of Silver City and runs all the way down through Panther and stops somewhere across from Lake George WMA. When the Yazoo gets high, it naturally backs up the Whittington Canal and the areas east of the east levee. This backs up the east side of Lake George and the landside ditch (this is the ditch Deep Bayou in Panther drains into and the ditch you cross leaving the parking lot at Cotton's going into the woods) and that ditch runs all the way up to the drain of Wolf Lake and a little bit further north into Humphreys. All of this area will flood when the Yazoo backs up.

One reason why the duck hunting can be so good in Tallahatchie and Quitman Counties when the Coldwater and Tallahatchie Rivers get high is because there is no levee up there except for the Panola-Quitman floodway that flows out of Enid which is, in effect, a man-made ditch that rerouted the Tallahatchie River coming out of Panola county. The Tallahatchie and Yocona rivers used to run right through Crowder (actually the old Yocona is that nasty looking ditch just north of the store in Crowder and runs alongside 322 toward the Tallahatchie; the old Tallahatchie is a little bit north of Crowder) and into the Coldwater just north of the bridge/boat ramp between Crowder and Lambert. Now the Tallahatchie comes down the Floodway and the Yocona runs into that south of the Lambfish bridge north of 32. There is also a levee on what I call the "new Coldwater". This ditch runs due south just west of Askew WMA and it basically reroutes the Coldwater that used to run a sweeping westward loop over to Birdie and back down to just north of Marks. If any of you have put in at the ramp on Bill Street Road north of Marks by Whiting Brake and run north, you will eventually get to the intersection where the channel and the old river split. There is a hoop net buried in the mud there but that's another story.

Yazoo Pass coming out of Moon Lake runs into this "old Coldwater" just north of Birdie, between Jonestown and Sledge. What is weird is that you could spit in Moon Lake and it would theoretically make its way to the Yazoo and possibly back up into Wolf Lake. But if you spit in Mackie Lake just south of Moon Lake it would eventually make its way into the Sunflower and down to the Steele Bayou Structure where it could meet up with your Moon Lake spit.

Yep, I've spent many an hour in a flat-bottomed boat.

[mshunter77]

That is some impressive knowledge of the levee system and the waterways.

[novacaine]

Or you could have called me and i would have sent you a map and saved you some gas!

[quackheadbp]

Very interesting Rob.

[booger]

I thought that I knew all of that.............. but I didn't. Fascinating info. thanks !!

[Double R 2]

[dukmisr2005]

I have heard different parts from different people. It was nice to have it all put back together. What about the levee near Tallehatchie at Poducawells (sp?) Just north of Charleston, the Rottenberry bottom? How is it tied in?

[novacaine]

[Wingman]

[dukmisr2005]

Gotcha.

[Wingman]

Side note: There were 7 of us kids born in Belzoni between November 17, 1973 (my birthday) and December 17, 1973. The previous spring was the historic flood of 1973.

My momma told me there wasn't anything else to do with all that water around. Not something I wanted to hear my momma say.

So I am a flood baby.

[OleMiss]

[dukluk]

[Wingman]

Water is almost over the guard rail on the Cotton's access bridge at Panther and is flowing backwards over the Deep Bayou gate.