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Floodgate Reopened as High Water Stands in Mississippi Delta

The Mississippi Levee Board says the Steele Bayou floodgate was opened Thursday. The structure north of Vicksburg helps regulate water levels inside a series of levees. Photo courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The Mississippi Levee Board says the Steele Bayou floodgate was opened Thursday. The structure north of Vicksburg helps regulate water levels inside a series of levees. Photo courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Friday, May 24, 2019

VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — A floodgate in the Mississippi Delta has been reopened as large stretches of rural land remain underwater.

The Mississippi Levee Board says the Steele Bayou floodgate was opened Thursday. The structure north of Vicksburg helps regulate water levels inside a series of levees.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed the gate Feb. 15, opened April 1 and closed it again May 11.

The levee board says water is standing on more than 550,000 acres (222,582 hectares), including more than 225,000 acres (91,056 hectares) of farmland.

Flooding makes it unlikely Delta farmers will plant summer crops on the land.

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