Whitney Downard / The Meridian StarMajor John Calhoun, left, with the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department, listens to U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith at an event celebrating Okatibbee Lake's 50th anniversary. 

Even in the 1930s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recognized the need for flood control in East Mississippi, pinpointing the Okatibbee Creek for a future project.

But with World War II, the Corps didn’t move forward on Okatibbee until decades later, celebrating with a ribbon cutting in June of 1969. 

“A century ago, there was no lake here. Only a creek,” Col. Sebastien Joly, who commands the Corps’ Mobil District which oversees the Okatibbee, said. “And like many creeks, it was prone to flooding… But, finally, a troubled creek was transformed into a peaceful lake.”

Okatibbee Dam celebrates its 50-year anniversary this summer, controlling the flow of water south as the northernmost point of the Pascagoula River Basin down to the Gulf Coast. 

“Obviously we choose the site of our projects very carefully,” Joly said, speaking of the engineers who designed the dam long ago. “It’s a multi-purpose project… We love to see the public out and enjoying our lakes.”

Joly stressed that while the project primarily served to reduce flooding and control water flow, recreation served as an additional benefit.

“The federal budget is going under close scrutiny so it’s always great when people can come out and see how their federal money is being spent,” Joly said. 

Josh Todd, the Lauderdale County supervisor for District 3, said he lived just three miles from the lake and spoke about the family memories he had on its shores.

“Okatibbee was built for water control… but to someone like me, who was born here and grew up here, it’s a lot more than that,” Todd said. “It’s a time for the family to get together… I caught my first fish right here; I went squirrel hunting right here. I was here Memorial Day weekend and I can tell you that there was not a camping site to be had.”

Todd acknowledged that, as the supervisor whose district included Okatibbee, he appreciated the role it played in flood control but said it added to the lifestyle of Lauderdale County. 

“You hear a lot of times that Lauderdale County doesn’t have a lot to offer but it’s right here. This is where you can go see nature how it was intended to be,” Todd said. “There are so many memories and they’re all tied in with my family and that all started right there. This is where I grew up.”

Working as a U.S. Senate representative for Mississippi, Cindy Hyde-Smith attends committee meetings and introduces bills on behalf of Mississippians in Washington D.C. but often doesn’t see the final result.

“But to come out here and see something that’s been around for 50 years? And this started out at a conference table,” Hyde-Smith said. “I get to see how many lives have been changed by this.”

Hyde-Smith said that Mississippi had some of the country’s biggest problems with flooding, highlighting the more than 500,000 acres underwater in the Mississippi Delta.

“There’s not many states that carry that burden the way Mississippi does,” Hyde-Smith said. 

Hyde-Smith said she worked closely with President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and hoped to address more infrastructure needs in Mississippi. 

“We do have major infrastructure issues and we have major flooding,” Hyde-Smith said. “I’m working now with the (Environmental Protection Agency) and the Corps to address flooding issues in the Delta.”

Hyde-Smith said that Congress had passed a pump bill in 2005 for the Delta but the EPA vetoed the project. She said she hoped that the bill could be revisited and address the issues EPA saw with the pumps.

“We have new technology now that we didn’t have access to then,” Hyde-Smith said. 

As for the future, the Corps doesn’t stay still for long. Joly said the Corps continued to stay and plan for structures across the country, specifically looking at the possibility of widening and deepening harbors to accommodate larger ships.

“Right now there’s a big emphasis on improving infrastructure (of harbors) to remain competitive in a global market,” Joly said. “The ability to bring goods down the Mississippi River is second to none (and) we want to make sure that we continue to protect that resource.”