Flooding in Stone County forces dozens of residents out of homes

STONE COUNTY, MS (WLOX) - A shelter opened at Stone High after flooding forced dozens out of their homes Saturday.

Rising water from the Red Creed resulted in about a dozen residents in the Mill Creek RV Park having to be rescued.

“The water was going down, and all of a sudden, it just rose. And it just overtook the park, and there’s nothing more we could do,” said Brian Miller, rescued resident. “We all evacuated and got out.”

Across the county, officials estimated around 30 people had to be rescued, including a group of seven off Old Hwy. 49.

“Our main concern was just getting the kids and the grandma out. We can take care of ourselves, but you have to take care of the elderly and stuff like that,” said Austin Deflanders, rescued resident.

On Hwy. 49 water from Red Creek nearly reached the bridge and topped several campers in the Park Beach RV Park.

Wiggins Fire Chief Jody Hatten said he saw flooding in areas that don’t usually flood.

“We normally have flooding around Red Creek. But we’ve had a couple of the side creeks that have flooded that people weren’t prepared for it, and it caused flooding to increase and get there a little quicker than expected. And we’ve had to make some rescues from that,” said Hatten.

The floods also caused more than 20 road closures around Stone County.

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