Good news!
For the first time in days, the National Weather Service has lowered its maximum river depth forecast from 38 to 37.5 feet. That means the Pearl is draining more rapidly than previously predicted even as flow from the reservoir spillway has increased 20 percent in the last 15 hours.
Kenneth Samuel "Ken" Pace, Jr., 73, passed peacefully at Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland on Thursday morning, 13 February 2020.
Ken was the son of Kenneth Samuel Pace, Sr. and Barbara Sue Brasfield "Bobbie" Pace and was born 14 October 1946 in Jackson, MS.
City, county and state officials have been working to help with evacuations and with rescues.
Pearl River water levels continue to undershoot forecasts, which is good news. Saturday night at 6 p.m. the spillway outflow was increased about 20 percent which officials fear will dramatically increase the water level.
On the scene visual report: 11p, five hours after Reservoir officials increased the spillway outflow, there is no visible increase in water levels at Twin Lakes Circle in Eastover. Yet another push back of the feared 38-foot level everyone has been predicting. Every time the high point gets pushed back is good news.
The reservoir began increasing its water volume into the spillway at 6 p.m. tonight. Every two hours for the next 12 hours the flow will increase 2,000 cubic feet per second (about 3.3 percent) peaking at 6 a.m. Sunday morning. Officials say the increase will be dramatic, raising the flood level from 36 to 38 feet over the 12-hour period.
Officials with the Ross Barnett Reservoir said today that they were nearing capacity and would begin releasing more water beginning late this afternoon.
A glimmer of hope: The water level Saturday morning is more than two feet lower than what was forecasted for Saturday morning on Thursday by the National Weather Service.
Operation Sandbag at Public Works Maintenance yard on Michael Avalon Road. Hundreds of cars and trucks are waiting to pick up and fill sand bags at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. There is an automatic sandbag filter running non-stop as well as individuals and volunteers filling by with shovels.
Waste Management customers in Jackson and surrounding areas, as well as Hinds, Rankin and Madison Counties, may experience delays in collection services due to the predicted flooding from the Pearl River.
