More rain is expected on the MS Gulf Coast, but river flooding to recede after Claudette
River flooding along the Mississippi Gulf Coast has begun to recede after most of the precipitation associated with Tropical Storm Claudette moved out of the state on Saturday.
There’s a chance for more rain Sunday, but that shouldn’t stop river flooding from subsiding, according to the National Weather Service.
There was a 60% chance of rain in Biloxi on Sunday with showers and thunderstorms likely between 3 and 5 p.m. New rainfall amounts of less than 1/10 of an inch are expected.
There have been 5.68 inches of rain reported at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi since Friday. At Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, there were 5.65 inches reported over the same period.
Up to 3-4 more inches could fall across the Coast before Wednesday, the weather service said, and a cool front is expected to bring possible strong storms Monday into Tuesday morning.
Flash flood watches could be issued Monday.
Possible tornado hits Jackson County MS community
The National Weather Service sent out a survey team to rural Jackson County on Sunday to determine if a tornado hit there on Saturday.
Earl Etheridge, director of Jackson County’s Office of Emergency Services, said that the potential tornado damaged only trees and power poles.
“It looks like a brief spin-up,” he said. “From where the damage is on State Line Road, it moved to the northeast into a heavily wooded area, and goes into Alabama. I don’t know if they had damage on the Alabama side.”
Etheridge said that the line of damage in Jackson County stretches about a quarter of a mile.
The threat of tornadoes remained a possibility into Sunday. The Pascagoula Police Department reported seeing two waterspouts Sunday morning.
River flooding
Most rivers across South Mississippi had minor flooding and have already started to recede:
▪ The Biloxi River at Lyman is receding a little slower than other locations. It was measured at 16 feet at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday — 4 feet above flood stage.
“It went just a little over moderate (flooding) because of rain,” said Julie Lesko, senior hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Slidell, Louisiana. “It’s holding steady and it will have a slow fall because there was a lot of rain in the upper part of the basin. It stopped at moderate, and it will be a slow fall, but it will work its way down.”
▪ The Jordan River at Kiln crested at 6.9 feet on Saturday morning when Claudette’s wind and rain were at their worst. It was measured at 6.7 feet Sunday morning and should be below the 6-feet flood stage later Sunday afternoon, Lesko said.
▪ The Wolf River in Gulfport, which has a flood stage of 8 feet, is expected to crest at 12.5 feet Sunday, and then slowly begin to fall.
“It should get below moderate flooding sometime on Monday,” Lesko said.
▪ The Tchoutacabouffa River was measured at 10.2 feet Sunday morning, 2.2 feet above flood stage. The river has already crested and is expected to be below flood stage at some point Sunday afternoon.
The Pearl River in Hancock and Pearl River counties, Leaf River in Green, Perry and George counties and East Hobolochitto Creek also reached minor flooding levels and were expected to fall below flood stage by Monday.
This story was originally published June 20, 2021 at 10:22 AM.
