Southwest Mississippi can expect another round of severe weather tonight, and people living along the Bogue Chitto and Tangipahoa rivers will see the rain-swollen rivers rise, National Weather Service and Civil Defense officials said this morning.
According to the National Weather Service Office in Slidell, La., a squall line with heavy rain, high winds and the potential for tornados is expected to hit southeast Louisiana and south Mississippi this evening and continue through the night as a cold front passes through.
The system was west of Louisiana and extended from Missouri south through Oklahoma to north Texas this morning.
Flooding is predicted along the Bogue Chitto River, and the Tangipahoa River in Osyka as both rivers, swollen by 5.7 inches of rains dumped on the area Tuesday and Wednesday, are predicted to go above or near flood stage.
The Bogue Chitto is already at 16.4 feet at the Highway 98 bridge — 1.4 feet above flood stage. It is expected to reach 18.5 feet by tonight, according to the National Weather Service.
Pike County Civil Defense Director Richard Coghlan said the high water is expected to cut off several roads and secondary roads, adding that Turnpike and McEwen Swamp roads in northeastern Pike County have already been closed because of high water.
The new warnings come as area residents continue cleaning up from two nights of severe weather.
Squall lines moving ahead of frontal systems passed through southwest Mississippi on Wednesday and Thursday, producing thunderstorms with heavy rains and high winds, and spawned several tornados.
The extreme weather blew down trees, broke utility poles and caused widespread outages throughout the area.
In Amite County, winds produced by the storm front that hit the area Wednesday damaged the roof at Liberty Elementary School, forcing school officials to close school Thursday and today.
Officials said this morning that the school’s classroom wing containing kindergarten through fourth grade took on more rain overnight.
Principal William Brabham would not say today whether or not the school will reopen Monday, deferring questions to Superintendent Debbie Hopf, who was not available for comment by presstime.
The storm also ripped the roof off a trailer in the Jerusalem community of Amite County.
Eighteen homes had major damage in Lincoln County, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
A check of county Civil Defense and emergency management directors this morning indicated that the area managed to get through Thursday night’s storms with little or no damage. Some areas, however, were again hit with power outages.
Magnolia Electric Power Association spokeswoman Lucy Shell said last night’s storm was responsible for knocking out power to 1,000 members in Lincoln, Walthall, Pike, Amite, Franklin and Lawrence counties. Among the hardest hit were Amite County with 400 outages, Lincoln County with 300 and Walthall County with 200.
Entergy spokesman Jim Hedges said about 100 customers were affected by power outages, adding that scattered outages were reported in the Centreville and Gloster areas.
“Now we’ll wait and see what happens tonight, when this next storm comes through,” Hedges said.
