Heavy rains causing problems

There were some areas of short-term flooding in Marshall County beginning Thursday last week, according to county administrator Larry Hall.

The Tippah River Bottom overflowed its bounds in District 5, causing short-term flooding of some low places on roads south of Potts Camp down Bethlehem Road.

There was also short-term flooding in the northwest portion of the county, where several pipes washed out.

“The water rises fast and goes down within an hour or so,” Hall said about most areas of flooding.

The pipe washouts included one on Hernando Road.

Most of the smaller pipes were washed out because of sandy soil.

The bottom of the pipe on Hernando Road had rusted out and over time the soil was washed away under the road making travel risky.

Hall said a three-quarter-mile detour has been set up around an area near the Watson community. Traffic is detoured from Hernando Road to Isaac Chapel Road and then back to Hernando Road, closing the loop.

Hall said the area cannot be repaired until dryer weather conditions take hold.

“A one- or two-day window is not enough to deal with it,” he said.

Dry fill dirt will be needed to cover a new pipe that is being installed, he said.

“We probably need three or four days with no rain before we can work on it,” Hall said.

There were a few downed trees in some areas of the county following Saturday night storms. Hall said water-saturated ground caused some trees to go down in straight-line winds.

WTVA in Tupelo reported more than 11 inches of rain in February, Hall said.

“It’s definitely that much or more (for our area),” said Hugh Hollowell, emergency management coordinator for Marshall County.

A rainfall census for the year in the Tupelo area was reported on an Internet site as 12.37 inches for the year-to-date as of Monday. Month-to-date totals for February were 9.44 inches.