Two Mississippi mayors representing cities along the Mississippi River have joined other mayors along the river to advocate for funding and support to prevent future flooding. MPB's Alexandra Watts reports.
After record-breaking floods in 2019, mayors representing 20 cities along the Mississippi River are lobbying congress for funds to better protect their communities against increasing flood risk.
Last year, according to the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, 19 states along the river lost over 20 billion dollars due to record floods.
Mayor Erick Simmons of Greenville spoke at a press conference about the damage to his city’s infrastructure.
“We had 30 sewer failures and almost 37 street failures as the result of the flood of 2019,” Simmons said. “And it’s going to get worse and worse and worse.”
According to the National Weather Service, floods are expected to continue along the river again in 2020.
Mayor George Flaggs of Vicksburg said his city was devastated by the floods of 2019. Communities like Eagle Lake, which is 15 miles Northwest of Vicksburg in Warren County, were flooded out of their homes and businesses.
Mayor Flaggs said the funding can help support the economy in communities like his.
“[The] 2019 floods were so devastating and cost so much to repair, that it was beyond the local government’s ability to be able to pay for those disasters.”
The Mississippi River mayors are asking for 6.82 billion dollars to go towards new and existing programs. The funding would include improving infrastructure around the rivers so future floods could be less devastating.