South Mississippi rivers reach record crests, displacing residents

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) — Several rivers in south Mississippi are cresting at record levels, forcing residents from their homes and leaving many without flood insurance to cover the damage.

Preliminary measurements show the Biloxi River is among those reaching historic crests.

Stanley Bowman, an Eagle Point resident, has lived in the area since 2012.

“I’ve not seen it like this,” Bowman said.

Nathan Barrett, Harrison County District Five supervisor, said the flooding is unprecedented.

“I’ve lived on the Gulf Coast my entire life, and I have never seen the water come up this quick and this high,” Barrett said.

Volunteers form rescue parties

Businesses and homes are nearly sunken. Volunteers have formed their own rescue parties to help people displaced from their homes.

Lewis Lee has called his property off Highway 605 home for 27 years. He rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina, and he will have to do it again.

“I was at work when the police called me, and asked me was anybody home because the water was rushing up in here mighty fast, and I told them I couldn’t leave work to get here cause I couldn’t stop the flood,” Lee said.

Lee is one of many driven from their homes. He is also one of many without flood insurance.

After fighting with companies and rising costs, he stopped paying for coverage.

“Every time I turned around, it was going up up up, and they wouldn’t do nothing. Every time you file a claim, alright, next thing you know, they don’t do nothing because it wasn’t a named storm. You go to pay your premium to renew it- it going up. $742 a month for flood insurance? Can you afford that every month? I’m not talking about homeowners’ insurance and fire insurance. I’m talking about flood,” Lee said.

The water has barely fallen. Lee said he will rebuild.

“This is my home. I’m going to rebuild,” Lee said.

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