Lauderdale County has made repairs and reopened some roads affected by flooding last week.

“Yesterday we made repairs to JW Reynolds, Suqualena-Meehan, Sgt. Fitz and opened all of them,” Rush Mayatt, the county’s road manager, said at Thursday’s Board of Supervisors workshop meeting. 

Following the flooding that began statewide on Dec. 27, Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency for the 10 affected counties, which included Lauderdale County and Clarke County.

The county closed several submerged roads that, once drained, could be reopened to the public. These roads included: Shirley Clarke Road, Center Grove Road, Ponds Road, Lake Ross Collins Road, Bronson Road and Russell Camp Road.

Roads still closed and awaiting repairs include Tommy Butler Road, Vimville-Causeyville Road and a section of Sam Gray Road, Mayatt said.

Most of the flood-damaged roads occurred in the southern part of the county due to the topography.

“A lot of the creeks in the county naturally flow that way – north to south,” Mayatt said. “Those areas were hit the hardest. Even Clarke County and those to the south of us… they were obviously hit a lot worse than us.”

Moving forward, Mayatt told the board of supervisors he would compile cost estimates for John Williamson, the director of Lauderdale Emergency Management Agency. Williamson would then forward these costs to the state.

Statewide, these costs together would be submitted and evaluated for emergency funding.

“I don’t think we meet the threshold alone as Lauderdale County,” Mayatt said.

Chris Lafferty, the county administrator, said that Lauderdale County’s costs would be used to help the state, or region, reach the funding threshold.

An early estimate shows Mississippi has at least $5 million in damage from heavy rains that have soaked parts of the state since last week.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency director Greg Michel said Wednesday that the total cost could increase as officials continue assessing damages after floodwaters recede. He said some counties have received more than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain.

Michel said nearly 200 roads and bridges were damaged or destroyed and more than 300 homes were damaged in south Mississippi as of Wednesday. 

Jonathan Wells, the supervisor for Lauderdale County District 1, wondered if all damage had been discovered.

“I just hate that there might be something out there that we might have missed,” Wells said.

“We haven’t had a moment to do anything other than repair failed bridges,” Mayatt said. “In the coming weeks, I’m sure things will pop up that we’ll have to address.”

Josh Todd, the district supervisor for Ward 3, offered a response for those wondering if this could have been prevented.

“Sometimes there’s nothing we can do. We can only put a certain-sized culvert in a certain-sized ditch,” Wells said.

Many road collapses appeared to be caused by collapsed culverts — either from excess water or, as Mayatt suggested, possible blockage from debris.

“The main thing is we get these roads addressed in a timely manner and get the roads fixed,” Mayatt said.

In other board business

The board purchased the old Firestone Building, across the street from the Meridian-Lauderdale County Library, to expand parking for the library. The building should be demolished in the next 120 days perhaps by June.

The Mississippi Association of Supervisors has urged the state legislature to address the state’s rural broadband issues that interfere with cell service and internet access.

“We’re not as bad as other counties… it will help us but there are counties with no cell service, no internet,” said Todd, who serves as the second vice president of the association. “If you don’t have any service, if there’s a medical emergency there’s no way to contact 911.”