Drone video shows mudslide where MS highway collapsed during Hurricane Ida

Heavy rainfall from Hurricane Ida “liquefied” the roadbed under Mississippi Highway 26 in George County, which collapsed late Monday night and sent motorists tumbling into a hole about 20 feet deep and 50 feet wide, a state engineer said.

Drone footage captured by McClatchy News shows what is now a dry river of water pouring down an embankment on south of the highway. Red earth is plowed up from the east-west corridor’s south side to solid ground on the north side near a cemetery.

“It is a slide, which means the ground under the roadway and embankment was super-saturated and we can tell right now that’s what caused the slide,” said Kelly Castleberry, district engineer for the Mississippi Department of Transportation. “The ground liquified and it spread several hundred feet to the south.”

Castleberry said the drone footage shows a path created by groundwater, which is beneath the earth, not surface water. He said feeder bands from Ida were pouring heavy rainfall in the area at the time of the collapse.

A small culvert in the area, probably 18 inches in diameter, drains water only from driveways, he said.

He said groundwater from all the rain, a water-line leak, or both, could have caused the collapse that killed two people and injured 10, three of them critically. MDOT is investigating the cause and will have an update when more information is available, Castleberry said.

MS 26 detour will be ‘significant’

The state road agency also is trying to determine what repairs will be needed to reopen the road, a major connection across South Mississippi from George to Pearl River County. Survey crews are on scene, Castleberry said.

Workers are moving lines for utilities — including power, water, and communications — and fiber optics. He said the ground underneath the roadway will have to be accessed to determine how much soil, granular material and asphalt will need to be brought in for repairs.

Castleberry expects the amount of material needed will be “significant.”

The official detour route around the cave-in, he said, is Mississippi Highway 57 or 63, to Interstate 10 for southbound traffic and Mississippi Highway 98 for northbound traffic.

“It’s a significant detour, distance-wise, to try to go around this,” Castleberry said.

The cemetery on the north side of Highway 26 is near Crossroads Methodist Church. Onlookers were streaming into the area to get a look at the hole, which still contained debris that included a car tire, car frame and truck-bed toolbox.

“For safety reasons, MDOT asks for people to stay out of the area until the road can be repaired,” Castleberry said.

Photojournalist Travis Long contributed to this report.

This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 12:04 PM.

Anita Lee

Sun Herald

601-909-0638

Anita, a Mississippi native, graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and previously worked at the Jackson Daily News and Virginian-Pilot, joining the Sun Herald in 1987. She specializes in in-depth coverage of government, public corruption, transparency and courts. She has won state, regional and national journalism awards, most notably contributing to Hurricane Katrina coverage awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. Support my work with a digital subscription