By John Howell Sr.

Batesville city officials on Tuesday faced a handful of citizens unhappy with yard and street flooding after weekend deluges from thunderstorm systems that trained through Panola County.  

Residents seeking help from city government at Tuesday’s mayor and aldermen meeting came from different locations including Pollard Street, Broad Street and Hoskins Road.

Smith Cleaners owner Amy Thomas was there — her third visit to the mayor and board in less than three years — seeking help for Thomas Street flooding.

Ann Haynes, 248 Pollard, and Mr. and Mrs. Rayford Smith, 252 Pollard, described water flow problems at the rear of their lots located in the northwest corner of the Green Acres circle as well as from water that flows through a stream along the circle’s north side.

“We lost about 10 more feet of dirt this weekend,” Haynes said. “We something because y’all dumped all the water from up here on top of us; y’all put the rocks up there by the baseball field,” she continued, referring to a 2006 project funded by a Natural Resources Conservation Service grant that paid for rip rap placement along ditch banks upstream from Green Acres Subdivision.

A Hoskins Road resident described erosion from a ditch behind her house.

Brenda Johnson, who lives in a different area of Green Acres, said her yard flooding problems might be solved with a larger culvert.

“I’m here to beg for culverts to handle the flow of water that comes through my yard … When we have the heavy downpours … the debris and sediment piles up in my yard,” she said.

Broad Street resident Tony Allen told aldermen that larger culverts would improve the drainage at his home also.

Alderman Eddie Nabors said that he had also received weekend calls from residents of Acorn Lane and Watt Street; Ted Stewart said that Tubbs Road residents also coped with flooding of streets and bank erosion.

City Engineer Blake Mendrop said that he will contact Grenada Railroad, LLC to ask them to replace a 24-inch culvert under tracks along Highway 35 North with larger diameter pipes.

“What we’ve got is the railroad acts as a levee,” Mendrop said, restricting drainage from the area between the Interstate 55/Highway 35 intersection and the railroad to the west and flooding the area around Maggie T’s and Love’s Truck Stop.

CDBG could help Tubbs

Coincidentally, a hearing scheduled during Tuesday’s meeting about an application for a Community Development Block Grant could bring the city money for drainage improvements in the Tubbs Road area.

Jimmy Gouras Urban Planning Consultant representative Ann Frazier urged Tubbs Road residents to write letters and bring them to City Hall along with any flooding photos they have. Letters and photos help strengthen the city’s chances of winning the grant, she said.

The city is trying to fund a $800,000 drainage and bank stabilization project with a $400,000 CDB Grant and $400,000 matching funds or in-kind work from the city, Frazier said.

Other possible improvements to city drainage problems were described as follows:

•Culvert enlargement and drain relocations along Thomas Street costing from $35,000 to $70,000;

•Extensive canvassing of existing culverts to remove debris wash sediment away with fire department high-pressure hoses. The survey would also evaluate capacities of existing culverts;

•Continued application for additional grants from the NRCS to fund ditch bank stabilization.