\ Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board • HAPPY HOLIDAYS • President Sykes Sturdivant Receives Volunteer Service Award The
Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board President Sykes Sturdivant was the recipient of Volunteer Yazoo-Mississippi Northwest Mississippi’s President’s Volunteer Service Award. The award, established by the President’s Delta Levee Board Council on Service and Civic Participation, was given to 25 outstanding volunteers from eight counties. The official publication of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee District WINTER 2010 Vol. 4, Number 1 Sturdivant has served as Levee Board president for and Staff 14 years. He is a long-time member of the West Tallahatchie Habitat for Humanity and serves on the FEMA Map Modernization Program Emmett Till Memorial Commission. wish the citizens Arrives in the Mississippi Delta of our region In fiscal year 2003, the Federal used by FEMA in their map moderniza- Dabney, a gray fox squirrel, lives in a tree behind Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tion project are accurate to only 5.0 feet. the Levee Board Building and has become the ______Copywriter ______Copy Editor a safe and festive began a multiyear map modernization The Upper Yazoo Project is a federally . official Levee Board pet. project of Flood Insurance Rate Maps funded project which began actual con- (FIRM) under the National Flood struction near Yazoo City in 1976 and holiday season! Insurance program with a total cost of has progressed upstream to just south of $1.6 billion as appropriated by Congress. Mississippi Highway 32 in Tallahatchie Artist ______Art Dir These new maps are referred to as County. The project is designed to . D-FIRM, which stands for “digital FIRM.” restore the capacity of the Yazoo River This fall, D-FIRM are being presented system to original capacities by channel to local leaders of six Delta counties width improvement. These new capac- Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee District that include Coahoma, Humphreys, ity improvements have resulted in lower ______Client ______Date P.O. Box 610 Quitman, Tallahatchie, Sunflower, and river stages when comparing similar flood . Clarksdale, MS 38614 D-FIRM have been finalized in several Mississippi Supv Yazoo. DeSoto, Tunica, and Holmes counties. Shown is a view of the Mississippi River near events from differing years. . County D-FIRM have been finalized and Robinsonville in Tunica County. The Yazoo Mississippi Delta Levee are effective. In rural, sparsely populated areas such Board claims that FEMA is ignoring ______Acct
D-FIRM may trigger a number of as the Delta, FEMA is reluctant to spend the new technology available to it in .
potentially disruptive and costly impacts the time and monies necessary to gather the development of D-FIRM and that Exec . 5˝x11˝ folded ______Spell Check ______Prod for the local Delta communities. Included necessary information for generation (Continued on page 6) . among these are: of sound, correct maps. Two major com- ponents available to FEMA that were not ______Acct Inside . • Mandatory flood insurance pur- considered in generating the maps, and
FEMA’s Map Modernization...... 1, 6 Mgr . chase requirements to obtain mort- which drastically affect the accuracy of Contact Information and Board Members...... 2 gage loans from federally insured these maps, is the newly available LIDAR YMDLB District Map...... 2 or regulated lenders; data just released by the U.S. Army Corps YMDLB Wins Awards...... 3 ______Prod
Teacher Workshop...... 4 . • New floodplain management regu- of Engineers and the restoration of the Donahoe Honored...... 4 lation (building elevation, flood- Yazoo River System through the Upper Fishing Rodeo...... 4 proofing, and area development Yazoo Project. LIDAR is the integration Art Contest Winners ...... 4-5 and construction delays); of three technologies into a single sys- Essay Contest Winners...... 5 GodwinGroup: YMDL 12216-1 Winter 2010 Newsletter 8 Cleanup Projects...... 6-7 ______Creative Dir • Potentially irreversible property tem capable of acquiring data to produce Fayetteville Express Pipeline ...... 7 value and local tax base declines; accurate digital elevation models. These YMDLB President Sturdivant Receives Award. . . . .8 • Business relocation and job loss. new models are accurate within 0.2 feet, Dabney — YMDLB Pet...... 8 while the old digital elevation models
YMDL 14084 WinterSpring.indd 1-2 12/9/10 3:42 PM CONTACT INFORMATION
COMMISSIONERS B. Sykes Sturdivant, President Tallahatchie County Bishop David Cotton, Vice President Holmes County Ted Winters Sr. Coahoma County Robert P. Sayle Jr. DeSoto County N. Craig Brewer III Leflore County Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board Bobby Rushing Sunflower County Receives Statewide Forestry Award David Williams Jr. Tunica County Board Honored During MS Forestry Commission’s Celebration of Trees Event Willie Gregory Coahoma County The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee been planted across the state. 400,000 hardwood seedlings annually at Ralph Sewell Humphreys County Board received recognition from the Jeff Carson (pictured above far right), a seven-acre nursery owned and operated Fred Robinzine Jr. Mississippi Urban Forest Council and the Levee Board assistant forester, received by the Levee Board. Quitman County Mississippi Forestry Commission during the award on behalf of the Levee Board. Out of this harvest, 60,000 seedlings are Clarence M. Cariker Jr. the annual Celebration of Trees statewide “The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee given away to public and private entities. Tunica County awards event last summer. Board is committed to bettering not only Working out of a nursery in Coahoma William H. Dodd Jr. The Yazoo-Mississippi The Levee Board has partnered with the communities where we live and serve County, Levee Board employees are Yazoo County Delta Levee District the Mississippi Urban Forest Council for but also our great state of Mississippi,” responsible for the growth and upkeep Kelly Greenwood Chief Executive Officer is a Constitutional body the past four years by providing seedlings said Sykes Sturdivant, Levee Board presi- of nine different tree varieties, includ- Chief Engineer of the State of Mississippi at educational events held by the forestry dent. “Trees play an important role in ing persimmon, cypress, magnolia, cherry domiciled in Clarksdale, council across the state. In addition, the the quality and growth of our cities and bark oak, willow oak, and water oak. Miss., Levee Board has provided trees planted towns, including aesthetic value, flood Hobart and his crew plant between 600 and is composed of all or by Urban Forest Council volunteers in reduction, and lower energy costs.” and 1,000 acres of trees per year to refor- portions of ten Delta coun- areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Sam Hobart, Levee Board forester, est Levee Board property. ties, namely DeSoto, Tunica, To date, more than 315,000 trees have oversees the harvesting of 300,000 to Coahoma, Sunflower, INQUIRIES TO: Quitman, Tallahatchie, The Office of the Chief Engineer Leflore, Humphreys, Holmes, c/o Kimberly B. Easley Secretary, Executive Assistant and Yazoo Counties. Each county is represented by one Outstanding Helping elected commissioner, except Maintenance Hand Telephone: 662-624-4397 the front line counties of Award Award Fax: 662-624-2450 Tunica and Coahoma, which
Postal Address: P.O. Box 610 are represented by two Pictured are (left to right) Kelly Greenwood, Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board Pictured are (back row, left to right) Shane Strider, Jeff Carson, Darron Banks; Clarksdale, MS 38614 CEO; Sykes Sturdivant, Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board president; Col. Tom (front row, left to right) Garden Club President Eve Ann Boschert and commissioners each. Smith; Melissa Mullen; Loy Hamilton; and Board Attorney John Henson (seated). Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board Forester Sam Hobart. Shipping Address: 140 Delta Avenue Clarksdale, MS 38614 The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board recently received The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board recently received the 2009 Outstanding Maintenance Award from the Memphis a Helping Hand Award from the Clarksdale Garden Club for E-mail: [email protected] District, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Melissa Mullen and assisting with the beautification of Clarksdale by planting Web Site: www.leveeboard.org Loy Hamilton represented the Memphis District in the award flowers around the city. presentation. 2 3
YMDL 14084 WinterSpring.indd 3-4 12/9/10 3:42 PM HAPPENINGS Art Contest Gallery 2nd Place — Shia Cooper, Walls Elementary, Walls Teacher Workshop
3rd Place — The Delta State University Delta Center for Jennifer Garcia, Culture and Learning conducted a three-day St. Francis workshop funded by the Yazoo-Mississippi Catholic School, Delta Levee Board . Fourteen Delta State Greenwood teachers participated in the workshop on the Mississippi River and flood control . The work- Best in Show — Aubrey Williams, St. George’s Episcopal Day School, Clarksdale shop was held at the Levee Board offices, and participants also visited the site of the levee break, near Scott, that created the Great Delta Arts Alliance Contest Winners 1st Place — Aliyah Haggan, Kirkpatrick Flood of 1927 . Teachers then created a lesson This year, the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board partnered with Delta Arts Elementary, Clarksdale plan entitled “The Mighty River and the Yazoo Alliance to hold an art contest open to any student in kindergarten through second Mississippi Delta Levee Board,” to educate grade who attended a public or private school within the 10-county district. Artwork students on the impact of the Mississippi River was to include any mammal or reptile common in the Mississippi Delta. First through and the role and objectives of the Levee Board . third places and one best of show were the rankings for each group. First through third place winners and the best of show winner and their classmates were treated to an all- Winners and Participants Donahoe Honored expense paid trip to the Tunica Riverpark and Museum in Tunica.
Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board Fishing Rodeo Fall 2009 & 2010 Essay Contest Winners Students and senior citizens recently tried their hands at 2009 — Students submitted essays on the 2010 — Students submitted essays on the casting lines at the Yazoo- topic of Youth Leadership: Change Agents topic of Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board, Mississippi Delta Levee Board for the Mississippi Delta’s Future. Then and Now: 126 Years of Flood Control. and Mississippi Department Pictured are (left to right) Sykes Sturdivant, Yazoo- Mississippi Delta Levee Board president; Bobby of Wildlife, Fisheries, and First Place – Jonathan Davis – Yazoo Charnel Williams – Humphreys Rushing, Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board Parks Fishing Rodeo. Residents Second Place – Malcolm McBee – Leflore DeAndrill Smith – Leflore commissioner representing Sunflower County; of S.L.A. Jones Center in Third Place (tie) – Jessica Smith – Quitman Justin Burton – Sunflower and Edgar Donahoe. Third Place (tie) – Sha’Quana Giles – Quitman Nicholas Hurst – Sunflower Clarksdale, along with fourth The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board Nadia Gill – Tunica Casanda Anderson – Sunflower recently honored Edgar Donahoe of Sunflower and fifth graders from R.H. Aisha Saffold – Holmes Melanie Hughes – Sunflower County . Donahoe has allowed the Levee Board Bearden Elementary School Keiunna Thompson – Leflore Darrius Moore – Coahoma Shemika Brinkley – Quitman Jay Salter – Coahoma the use of his pond in Sunflower County for in Sumner and Myrtle Tate Collums – Quitman Quiondriya Gee – Coahoma Pictured is Jonathan Davis, student at three fishing rodeos, including those attended Hall Elementary School in Kendrick Hoskins – Tallahatchie Margaret Duhon – Coahoma Manchester Academy in Yazoo City and by students from Sunflower, Leflore, Holmes, Clarksdale, were bused to Mile Shana Pinkston – Humphreys Jennifer Ray – Quitman and Yazoo County schools . The fishing rode- 78 Landside, one of 26 public fishing holes within Coahoma and Tunica counties, to try first place 2010 essay contest winner, with Dillion Lowry – Tunica Chrisa Doss – Quitman Levee Board Education Liaison Loris os are jointly sponsored by the Levee Board their hand at catching a prize-winning catfish. Bobby Rushing, Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Torian Watts – Quitman Julian Crawford – Yazoo and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Levee Board commissioner representing Sunflower County, is pictured with volunteers Tony Schnadelbach – Coahoma Stewart Bridgforth – Yazoo Johnson and his parents Mary Carol and Fisheries, and Parks . and participants. Kaila Peggs – Coahoma Steve Davis. 4 5
YMDL 14084 WinterSpring.indd 5-6 12/9/10 3:42 PM
FEMA Map Modernization Program YMDLB Assists with Fayetteville Express Pipeline LLC Levee Board Responsible for Earthworks Portion in Coahoma County (Continued from page 1) ing flood risk open houses across the subsidy and force residents within the inaccurate maps are being presented to state, along with personnel from the special flood hazard area to pay full actu- the public and will impact insurance rates Mississippi Emergency Management arial rates for flood insurance policies. In and land use across the Delta. Agency and the Mississippi Department some cases this could result in an annual “We have appealed to the United of Environmental Quality. Participation premium of $300 increasing to $3,000. States Congress, FEMA, the CORPS, and in the National Flood Insurance Program “Using flawed or inaccurate maps to the newly initiated Commission on Levee requires that a community adopt the new rate insurance premiums for special flood Safety about the potential inaccuracies of Flood Insurance Rate Maps into a local hazard area residents is totally unreason- the new D-FIRM,” said Levee Board CEO/ flood damage prevention ordinance that able. The least that FEMA can do is use Chief Engineer Kelly Greenwood. “Several meets the minimum standards as issued the most recent and advanced technol- forms of legislation have been introduced by FEMA. The National Flood Insurance ogy and science to develop the most in the House of Representatives to both Program makes federally backed flood accurate maps for rating flood insurance delay map implementation and/or man- insurance available to homeowners, rent- premiums for one of the most economi- datory insurance purchases.” ers, and business owners in communi- cally challenged areas of the country, the The Mississippi Flood Map Moderni- ties that participate. However, there is Mississippi Delta,” Greenwood said. zation Initiative Team is conduct- legislation before Congress to remove this
Drainage Channels Cleared Ditch Clean-out Project in District 5 of Leflore Completed at Rosa Fort High County School in Tunica County The Fayetteville Express Pipeline LLC runs from Conway County, Arkansas, to Panola County, Mississippi. Shown are scenes from Coahoma County.
The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Panola County, Mississippi. The Levee surface for protection. The pipeline sys- Board assisted with heavy earthwork con- Board built the earthworks portion on its tem is designed to help meet future energy struction for a portion of the Fayetteville property in Coahoma County to prepare needs, contribute to energy independence Express Pipleline LLC, an 185-mile the area for pipe-laying. After FEP and stability, and stimulate economic pipeline originating in Conway County, completes the installation of the 42-inch growth. The entire project is expected to Arkansas, and terminating at an intercon- diameter pipeline, the Levee Board will be completed by the end of the year. This drainage channel in Leflore County was recently cleared by the Clean-out at Rosa Fort High School has helped prevent flooding at the school. nect with Trunkline Gas Company in then go back and sod and seed the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board.
The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board has helped to The Yazoo Mississippi Delta Levee Board recently completed alleviate flooding by clearing drainage channels throughout a ditch clean-out project in Tunica County at Rosa Fort High District 5 in Leflore County. Many of the channels were School. David Williams, Levee Board commissioner representing bogged down with silt and plugged with beaver dams. About Tunica County, coordinated the request for the project to help Sunflower River Project Underway Near Clarksdale 15-20 miles of channels were cleared, allowing the channels prevent flooding at the school. In 2005, the Levee Board cleaned The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board is one of several entities contributing to the to take water away more quickly during heavy rainfall. Levee out ditches behind the school, and crews have now completed Sunflower River weir project, offering in-kind support of manpower and equipment. The Board Commissioner Craig Brewer represents Leflore County clean-out of the remainder of the ditches, totaling approximately Levee Board will assist in debris removal from the Sunflower River near the base of the and worked with county administrators and supervisors to 600 yards. bridge on Friars Point Road at Lee Drive (pictured). Logs and other debris were putting approve the project. The Levee Board also helped the county extra pressure on the bridge’s pilings. by cleaning debris away from bridges in Schlater, a project that would have cost the county an estimated $30,000.
6 7
YMDL 14084 WinterSpring.indd 7-8 12/9/10 3:42 PM