Help is coming: Army corps says Jackson area could get $221M federal funds to prevent flooding

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Monday that Corps is prepared to provide up to $221 million in funding for the Pearl River Flood Control Project.

The funding promise, which would utilize money from the bipartisan infrastructure law, came along with a commitment to provide up to $700,000 to assist with the final steps of a federal validation study on the project.

The project, which is intended to protect residents of Jackson, along with Hinds and Rankin counties, from severe flooding is in the midst of an approval process, but local leaders celebrated the Army Corps announcement as a momentous step forward.

"Today is a great day for the city of Jackson," Hinds County Supervisor Robert Graham said during a news conference. "For the citizens of Northeast Jackson, Rankin County and Hinds County, help is on the way."

Graham thanked Mississippi's members of congress, including U.S. Reps Bennie Thompson and Michael Guest, and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker.

"This could not have happened without them," Graham said.

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The current levee system doesn't protect parts of Jackson and the nearby suburbs that are prone to flooding, officials told the Associated Press. "The Pearl River Flood Control Project would widen the river that runs through the Jackson area, allowing more water to move through during floods," the Associated Press reports. "It would also enlarge levees and remove chokepoints that have caused water to flow over the river banks onto residential areas.

"It would protect local counties from more than $1 billion in potential damages," Wicker told the Associated Press.

“As I have emphasized repeatedly to the administration, each year that the Jackson metro area lacks adequate flood control is another year when we risk repeating the disaster of the Easter Flood of 1979," Wicker said, referring to a flood that caused waters to rise to record highs.

Shortly after the announcement from the Army Crops, Wicker released a statement celebrating the decision. The statement thanked Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor, who oversees the Army Corps. Wicker, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Richland Mayor Pat Sullivan met with Connor in August, and Wicker helped secure a separate $300,000 in funding for the validation study earlier in the year.

“This is an outstanding announcement for the many Hinds and Rankin County residents who have to fear for their homes and businesses every time waters rise along the Pearl River. Finalizing this final federal study will bring us one step closer to breaking ground on this meaningful flood control solution,” Wicker said in the statement.

Wicker said each year that flood control projects have not been put in place is a year where catastrophe could occur.

"As I have emphasized repeatedly to the administration, each year that the Jackson metro area lacks adequate flood control is another year when we risk repeating the disaster of the Easter Flood of 1979," Wicker said in the statement. "I am glad to see that this important project will be funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law I supported. This is the exact kind of hard infrastructure that our state needs."

Lumumba said he has heard similar concerns from residents in Northeast Jackson during the 2020 floods, and then again with the risk of flooding earlier this year with Thompson and Wicker.

"I ran into some of the (same) families on both occasions," Lumumba said, adding that he often heard the same thing. "Mayor, senator, I want you to promise me that this will not happen again."

While enough has been done to have some idea of the funding that will be needed, impact studies and a community feedback process are still required to complete the federal validation study. Lumumba said there are some questions that are still unanswered at this stage.

"I will share that there are many more questions to come," Lumumba said. "I look forward to continuing to work together, as I know we will do."

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Pearl River Flood Control Project gets Army Corps funding promise