Officials in Mississippi Urge People To Evacuate as Record Setting Rains Cause Flood

A day after ordering residents of Jackson, Mississippi, to "get out immediately," the mayor of the state's largest city is asking people not to dismiss evacuation warnings as record-breaking rain threatens to flood streets and infiltrate houses within the next two days.

On Sunday evening, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told CNN's Pamela Brown, "We urge them to get out and pray that the worst does not happen."

"We  don't want to take the chance that it will happen when they are present in their houses."

Evacuation of residents

(Photo : ASIF HASSAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Due to the rain, authorities previously estimated that Mississippi's Pearl River would reach 36 feet and crest by Tuesday, but the river is now forecast to crest late Sunday through Monday evening before gradually falling.

Lumumba had earlier advised CNN that residents should flee the city "as quickly as possible," fearing a repetition of the devastating February 2020 floods.

"We have a reference point since we have witnessed similar catastrophes as recently as 2020, and we know the devastation that may ensue," he added.

Lumumba stated that putting one person's life at risk is one too many.

Over the previous two days, the citizens have been pummeled with heavy rain.

Mississippi governor Tate Reeves announced a state of emergency due to rising river floods on Saturday and asked locals to be calm.

According to the proclamation, the state has already begun deploying drones to measure water levels along the river and has put more than 100,000 sandbags.

Mississippi is well prepared for the storm, according to Reeves, including the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, which is constantly watching the situation and aggressively trying to respond to current flooding events as swiftly as possible.

While river levels are not projected to reach the same levels as in 2020 this week, Lumumba warned CNN that this is no reason to underestimate the flood waters.

Lumumba added that since the 2020 flooding incident, officials have been able to better advise communities on how to prepare for the flood by photographing their homes and retrieving essential papers.

At 26 feet, a flood level is deemed "significant" in the city.

According to the new flood warning, hundreds of additional streets in downtown Jackson will flood at 34 feet, with water approaching residences in Northeast Jackson at 35.8 feet.

Furthermore, according to the National Weather Service, the Pearl River will peak at 35.5 feet on Monday morning.

Also Read: Intense Flood Hits Madagascar's Capital Due to a Month-Long Rain

Americans continue to migrate to areas where there is no water

Despite the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act, the most comprehensive piece of climate-related legislation ever voted by Congress, the United States is doomed to decades of increasing temperatures and more severe weather, as per Vox.

How heated it becomes will depend on how rapidly we cut carbon emissions and how sensitive the climate proves to be, but average global temperature rises of 2 to 3 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels are most plausible, with some regions seeing far worse extremes.

Maricopa County in Arizona, home to Phoenix, a desert metropolis that receives more sunlight than any other large city on Earth - and averages more than 110 days with highs of at least 100°F - led the way in development.

Average temperatures in Phoenix are already 2.5°F higher than they were in the middle of the past century, which helped to explain why there were 338 heat-related fatalities in Maricopa County last year.

Despite worse to come, Maricopa's population has expanded by 14 percent in the previous decade, reaching roughly 4.5 million people.

A similar tendency is at work in areas with significant storm and flood danger, such as Florida and South Carolina, or in places with high wildfire risks, such as Colorado and Idaho.

Related article: Flash Flood: 200 Evacuated as Floodwaters Sweep Through Turkey's Black Sea Region