Planned work on Eubanks will offer little relief from flooding
Design work is about to wrap up on a project designed to improve drainage along Eubanks Creek in Fondren.
However, the project, once constructed, likely would do little to protect residents in the event of a storm similar to the one that ripped across the area on August 12.
That afternoon, a brief but heavy, thunderstorm dropped more than five inches of rain on the Northside, causing flash flooding across the area.
In Fondren, the deluge caused Eubanks Creek to overflow, causing temporary flooding along portions of Chickasaw Avenue, Eagle Avenue, Seminole Avenue, Choctaw Road and Hawthorn Drive.
Many residents posted photos of the flood waters inundating their front and back yards and covering the streets. At Hawthorn Drive, water from Eubanks started lapping over the bridge.
Northsiders are hoping that a project planned to improve drainage along the creek would help prevent flash flooding, but city officials say the improvements would do little to stave off flooding in a storm similar to the August 12 deluge, which is considered a 50-year-storm.
“It would provide some relief, but I can’t say it would alleviate this problem,” said Jackson Engineering Manager Charles Williams.
To prevent flooding from a 50-year event, the creek would have to be significantly widened, something that likely could not be done without relocating many homes along its banks.
“When you get two inches of rain in 30 minutes, it’s very difficult to contain,” he said. “You can’t go deeper, because you’d have water standing in the ditch.”
In 2016, Stantec Consulting Services was brought on to draw up plans for the project, which includes a section of the creek running from North State Street to Eagle Avenue.
The contract was not to exceed $387,000.
“The design is almost complete, we’ll have to get some easements,” Williams said.
Work will include adding capacity at bridges along the creek in order to improve flow.
Four bridges run along the creek in the targeted area, including ones at Hawthorn, Chickasaw, Eagle and Seminole.
Because the creek runs behind private property, the city will need to obtain between 10 and 12 easements to access it.
Even if the city obtains those easements, though, it’s unclear how the project would be funded.
The improvements are expected to cost around $2 million.
The engineering was paid for by the city’s infrastructure sales tax. However, no one-percent dollars have been set aside for the construction.
The August 12 storm is considered a “50-year storm,” according to Marty Pope, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Flowood.
A 50-year has the probability of occurring twice a year during a 100-year period, he explained.
Between 3:30 and 5 p.m., about 5.67 inches of rain was reported at Old Canton Road between Meadowbrook Road and Lakeland Drive. Northwest of there, about seven inches fell near Lake Hico, Pope said.
Near Hawthorn Drive, Eubanks rose from around 3.5 feet to 11.71 feet, and crested around 5:30. Hanging Moss Creek rose from around 6.2 feet to 13.7 feet, causing flash floods around Parham Bridges, Jackson Academy and Sheffield Drive, he said. The creek there crested around 5:45 p.m.
“It was a pretty intense event, that’s for sure,” Pope said.
