Anderson Jones was born in a shotgun house at the edge a forest in Issaquena County in Mississippi. Issaquena, which is the smallest county east of the Mississippi River, has just 1,300 inhabitants. It boasts a wide expanse of open fields and swampy woods. Jones, 59 years old, lives on disability in the house built by his father in 1965. He has ten acres and grows crops on five. He told me that six hundred dollars a year is earned from farming when he visited him in August. Jones enjoys watching the land grow. He said, “You get joy out there.” It’s just a beautiful thing to witness. This summer Jones watched as the historic flood swept across the Delta, covering more than half a million acres. The flood was larger than Maui and created a large, stagnant pool of motor oil, sewage, and other pollutants. Jones sent his family higher ground but he stayed. He killed snakes and built a wall of sandbags to protect his home. Locals are rallying around the #FinishThePumps hashtag to stop the flooding. This is a reference to the Yazoo Pumps, a flood control project that dates back almost 80 years. The agency killed it in 2008 because of its impact on local wetlands. After this year’s destruction, #FinishThePumps has been revived. The EPA is currently rethinking its decision not to continue the project. The bottom of the Mississippi Delta is Issaquena County. This area is one of America’s poorest. Residents and politicians see the pumps project as essential for their safety and economy. Its cost, which is likely to exceed $380 million for installation and millions more for maintenance, would most likely be borne by taxpayers. Critics raise concerns about the pumps and their impact on communities of low-income or minority people and the environment. Jones believes that the immediate need is evident. On Jones’ car’s rear windows, there is a #FinishThePumps sticker. He said, “Right now we should get these pumps.” “Everybody needs to get help.” The Mississippi Delta is 200-miles of low-lying land that lies between Memphis and Vicksburg. It forms part of the Mississippi River’s floodplain. The Yazoo River flows along the Delta’s southeastern border and empties into Vicksburg. It is a network of winding creeks, bayous and rivers. In 1820, the land in the South Delta was opened to white settlers. A treaty with the Choctaw Indians ensured that the tribal boundaries it drew would “shall not be altered.” However, a new treaty was signed ten years later and allowed more Choctaw land for the development of plantations. Issaquena County was home to more than 7,000 slave black residents in 1860. This is a higher rate than 587 whites. The county also had the second highest per capita wealth in the South. In the 19th century, flood waters caused by the Mississippi River flooding destroyed farmers’ crops and forced slaves to construct levees. The federal government assumed control of flood control in 1879. Black laborers endured in harsh camps for decades, often working long hours to pay little to build flood control levees. A white camp boss boasted that they had “created a million dollars worth of land, property, and other resources” in the early 20th-century. But the southern Delta, which included Issaquena was not as prosperous. Backwater flooding was caused by the Mississippi rising. Only 20% of the backwater area was cleared by the turn of the 20th century. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started to rebuild the Mississippi after a devastating flood in 1927 submerged large parts of the South. They built more than 3,700 miles of levees, four floodways, and more floodways to divert water and keep the river on a controlled course. The “Yazoo Backwater Project” was a project to reduce floodwaters in the Delta. It was authorized by Congress in 1941. The project was delayed and simplified over the following three decades due to high costs and an unfinished list of projects at the agency. A levee, built in 1970 along the western bank the Yazoo River, was one component of the project. It was designed to protect the Delta from flooding and prevent future floods. It turns the area into a “bathtub” that fills with water when it rains. Steele Bayou in southern Issaquena County was built with gates to drain the tub. The Army Corps then opens the gates when the Mississippi River drops enough to allow water to flow out. Unbuilt pumps would open the gates and take 100,000 gallons of water from the Delta every second, pouring it back into the Yazoo. The pumps were built in 1986, more than 40 years after the original plan was created. However, the federal law required that local dollars be used to fund 25% of flood-control projects. The new law was carefully drafted to ensure that the Yazoo Pumps, which were criticized by environmentalists for being destructive of wetlands and used as a bailout by fiscal conservatives for a few wealthy farmers, would be subject to the new rule. Construction was stopped because there wasn’t enough money. The historic flood of this year actually started last year with a rainy fall. By September, soybeans had gone moldy. The fields were difficult to harvest because they were soggy. The twelve months of July 2018 through June 2019 were the most wet in American history. In February, rains filled the Mississippi and forced the Army Corps to close the gates to drain it. For 162 days, the river held at flood stage at Vicksburg. The Army Corps opened the Steele Bayou gates every time the Mississippi fell below the permissible stage throughout the spring and summer. Backwater flooding was still a problem, however. According to the Mississippi Levee Board which maintains levees throughout the state, the water level in the Delta rose nearly two feet this year. The Levee Board recorded 45 days where the water was above 95 feet between 1973 and 2018. In 2019, it happened 144 times in a row. Peter Nimrod was the chief engineer of the board. He indicated that the flood spanned 40 miles north of Steele Bayou. It spanned 28 miles at its largest, and covered parts six counties. Two people died. Two people died when a man and a woman were driving in the wrong direction on a highway. Their car fell into the water and they both drowned. Nearly 550,000 acres were submerged and hundreds of homes were destroyed by the floodwaters. Anderson Jones, from Issaquena County lost his battle May 19, at 2 AM. He woke up to see water pouring through his sewage lines. He turned off the power and fled. He said that he didn’t have a chance of saving anything. The floodwaters affected 230,000 acres of farmland. This is a huge loss in a region where agriculture is the backbone. The backwater farmers were unable to plant. Nimrod of the Levee Board stated that there have been $372 million worth of flooding damage to the backwater region since 2008. He also estimates that this amount could double after this year. These numbers don’t include the economic effects of flooding, such as closing stores and restaurants and losing farmhands and workers who were without pay. In late July, the water began to drop and residents found dead fish among treetops as well as the bones of drowned deer and raccoons. Locals are bitter about the lackluster coverage of the flood and call it the “Forgotten Flood”. Ray Mosby of The Deer Creek Pilot, a local newspaper from Rolling Fork in Mississippi, explained that some residents now believe that he, his newspaper, and the Deer Creek Pilot are against the pumps. When I visited his office this year, he stated that “No.” “We don’t believe in lying to get the pumps.” Many opponents, including lawmakers and environmental groups, have long declared that the pumps are a false promise. Even with the pumps, 350,000 acres, including more than 100,000 acres of farmland, would have been submerged this year according to The Levee Board. Louie Miller of the Sierra Club Mississippi, says that “that’s not a hellu lot of bangfor the buck.” According to the EPA, 67,000 acres would be affected by the pumps. The EPA vetoed this project in 2008 after receiving 48,000 comments. More than 99% of the public had voiced opposition to the project, including a majority Mississippians. The comments in the Delta were almost unanimously in favor. The pumps are supported most by the Army Corps, Mississippi Levee Board and the Delta Council. This is a regional lobbying group that supports local “planters,” or large-scale local farmers. According to official Army Corps documents, the pumps would have kept the water at 92.3 feet in this year’s flood, according to calculations by the agency. Multiple requests for comment from the Army Corps regarding the pumps were not answered. The Mississippi Levee Board stated that this would have prevented flooding of homes and highways from being overtopped. However, the Army Corps’s 2000 surveys indicate that at most 91 homes and more than 400 miles worth of roads would be affected by flooding at that time. Initial plans for the pumps were to be an agricultural project. According to the Army Corps report, 80% of economic benefits from the project would go directly to farmers. Federal dollars would finance these benefits since the requirement of lost cost-share was waived. Over the last two decades, however, lobbying groups from the state and the regions have primarily focused their messaging on residents of the region who are subject to flooding. This includes low-income black residents. Mosby’s investigation found that politicians were increasing the number of homes that are frequently inundated. James Cobb, an academic who studies the region’s economic history said that landowners have used federal assistance to their advantage since the Delta was first developed in the late 19th Century. He explained that they have worked to secure public funding for drainage and levee construction. Cobb stated that the pumps are “very much in the same way.” According to the Delta Council, the pumps are needed to aid poor black residents. “Where was their concern all along?” Cobb stated that it’s not like they could not have been involved with efforts to help [black residents].” Cobb also pointed out the resistance of the Delta Council to the War on Poverty during the 1960s. “Their concern would seem to be very selective,” Frank Howell, executive Director of the Delta Council, stated that this was “new” history to him. This indicated that the group has long supported better educational outcomes for black residents in the area. The flooding this year was not restricted to the Delta’s backwater region. There are many other areas of the Delta that have been devastated and will not benefit from the project. Mayersville is the county seat for Issaquena. More than 40% of its residents are poor. Every year, water from the Mississippi River rises covers parts of the town, but it often disappears quickly. Otis Parker (77-year-old Mayersville farmer), told me that it remained for nine months this year. He said that “[The pumps] aren’t going to help.” His land is far too far. Holmes County is located just northeast of the backwater. It is the most poor county in the state. Residents of Tchula reported that 21 homes were flooded in February after a storm. This is a town where most residents are black and 60% are in poverty. They won’t be able to benefit from the pumps. Locals who expressed doubts about the project were reprimanded or expelled. Locals boycotted the wife’s restaurant after a local businessman made a case against the pumps to federal officials. It was eventually closed in April. Representative Bennie Thompson, a Democrat representing most of the Delta in Congress expressed support for the project during a public meeting but suggested that buyouts and updated building codes may be necessary. A local newspaper criticized him for his “lukewarm support.” The project is being pushed forward by the state’s Republican senators. In a recent statement, Sen. Roger Wicker stated that “[t]he United States Congress made people of Mississippi a promise.” The promise was not kept for Mississippi and the Delta is now at risk. This should stop. It is time for the pumps to be shut down.” Since the 1941 promise, the population of Issaquena’s and Sharkey’s counties has plummeted more than 70%. As global temperatures rise, heavy rain is becoming more common in the Southeast. Mississippi’s backwater area has been flooded nine times in the past 11 years. This year’s flood was a 25-year event. Both sides agree that such a flood will almost certainly recur. Miller of the Sierra Club stated that if you look at it from a social justice perspective, the best approach is to get money down on the ground, and to the people. Miller suggested that the Sierra Club buy out floodplain residents or help them raise their homes. The funding would come from FEMA grants, which homeowners living in the floodplain area can apply for. The spokesperson for the Mississippi association stated that several counties had submitted applications. However, they were not able to identify which ones. Andrew Wheeler, an EPA administrator, was a former coal industry lobbyist and was appointed by President Trump to tell a Senate committee that they were looking into reversing the 2008 veto on the pumps. An EPA spokesperson stated that the EPA had been meeting with the Army Corps for the past few months to discuss ways to prevent flooding and still adhere to the Clean Water Act. Late July saw Mississippi senators introduce legislation to overturn the veto of the EPA and reduce the EPA’s control over the Army Corps. Even if the Yazoo Pumps were resurrected, it could take decades before work resumes; there is an estimated $100 billion in backlog for infrastructure projects within the Army Corps. Both sides agreed that the pumps might not be built in the end. Anderson Jones was the landowner who lost his home in this year’s flood. He pointed out a pin oak that he had planted in his front yard. It was planted fifty years ago by him, he explained, and it now shades his entire yard, a sign of his time. He said, “I did go through something, and I’m going tell you.” in August. The floodwaters had left a dark, low line around the house, which was evidence of the destruction inside. Mold had ruined the skeletal beams. Jones stated that he had approached a local foundation to get financial assistance in restoring his house. He was told to be patient as they were still working through their list. Jones also applied for FEMA individual assistance after President Trump declared the affected areas eligible. He said, “You have to do whatever you can until they decide they will come and help.” Do not expect promises. There was already a crew working, and as we spoke, the men were removing ruined furniture and wood, and putting it in a pile. The fields surrounding the house were barren and brown, with occasional weeds. When the crew started the fire, black smoke rose up and drifted across the landscape.
The empty land.