By John Howell Sr.

City engineer Blake Mendrop will meet with Batesville’s Mayor and Aldermen at 1 p.m. Tuesday, October 19, an hour before the start of the regular city board meeting.

Mendrop on October 5 had requested about an hour of the city officials’ meeting time during his initial presentation of new maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Batesville Mayor Jerry Autrey said that next Tuesday’s meeting will allow Mendrop to provide further information for city officials and for the public. Mendrop is compiling elevation data from city engineering projects that have been completed in recent years to compare to the FEMA data that could bring extensive areas of Batesville into flood plain designation.

The map is being prepared by the Mississippi Flood Map Modernization Team composed of officials of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and representatives of MGI, LLC.

Presently, the only areas in corporate limits designated Flood Zone are along Highway 6 West and an area along Whitten Creek in at the north corporate limits.

Under the new proposal, the south side of Highway 6 West would remain flood zone from Highway 35 to the west corporate limits. On the north side, the flood zone would be reduced alongside the highway but expanded along Cole Creek to include portions around Tubbs Road.

Elsewhere in the city, the flood zone would be drastically expanded if the new proposal is adopted. That decision is not left to city or county leaders, Mendrop told the mayor and aldermen.

“They’re going to be like this until you prove them different,” Mendrop told the city officials October 5.

Mendrop said that the city could have areas removed from the proposed flood plain by providing more up-to-date engineering and hydraulic information. He cited the example of a business owner who has recently constructed a new building. The survey data used during the construction to determine the new building’s elevation could be used to prove that the structure should not be included in the flood zone, the engineer said.

“They’re being pretty stubborn,” Mendrop said October 5, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). “Some of these cities are spending a little bit just to check,” to determine whether elevations in areas newly proposed to be included in Flood Plain is correct. A typical homeowner might not be aware of the new designation until he receives a notice from his mortgage holder that he must buy Flood Insurance which has not been previously required, the engineer said.

The proposed flood zone would take in areas along Sand Creek (designated as Whitten Creek Tributary on the preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)), including strip of commercial buildings on Commerce Street and from the southeast quadrant of the 6-51 intersection to the east end of the Eagle Crest Shopping Center (Tsunami Restaurant to Domino’s Pizza). On the opposite side of Highway 6, the flood zone is limited to a small area that takes in the front of several buildings including the Smith Cleaners location there.

Ironically, the newly-proposed flood zone takes in only the rear of the building at Smith Cleaners’ Thomas Street location where overflow from street flooding has been a recurring problem during heavy rains at the front of the building. The newly proposed zone includes all of the Downtown Square, and areas in the vicinity of the Sand Creek as it intersects the town. That would mean Bates Street, a portion of Church Street, Potts Street, Creek Drive, Pamela Street, most of Court Street, Ward Avenue, Acorn Lane, Park, Georgia Watt, Broadway and Short Streets on the upstream side of the railroad.

On the creek’s downstream side of the railroad, the newly-proposed flood zone would include Boothe, Atwell, College, a portion of Panola Avenue, Kyle, Brooks, a portion of Baker, Harmon Circle, Brinkley Lane, North, Broad, among other areas.

A change in the flood plain could impact builders and developers, lenders, realtors, insurance agents, and lending institutions.

Officials representing the Mississippi Flood Map Modernization Initiative Team will host a Flood Risk Open House from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 1 at the Panola County EMA building (the old Sardis National Guard Armory).

For additional information about proposed changes in other areas of Panola County try this link: http://geology.deq.ms.gov/floodmaps/status.aspx?county=Panola