TUNICA CO., MS (abc24.com) - It's been almost one year since the Mississippi River hit historic flood levels and caused billions of dollars in damage to property across 12 Mississippi counties. Residents in the Mississippi Delta are still cleaning up. Businesses there have never fully recovered.
The Tunica Cutoff was one of the hardest hit places in Tunica County. Only around half the residents there are back in their homes.
Roy Smith, a Tunica Cutoff resident, says, "We're ahead where we thought we'd be. I thought it would take us 2 years to get back to where we are now."
The Army Corps of Engineers has been working over the last year to reinforce levees that may have been damaged during last year's flood. There are future plans to build relief wells along levees in the Mississippi Delta to help with water seeping underneath the levees.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency estimates that 334 buildings flooded in Tunica County alone. Popular casinos in Robinsonville are dry now, but business is still slower than normal. For emergency managers, they have been using the last year to prepare for future floods.
Randy Stewart, Tunica County Chief Deputy, says, "We're going to have to figure out where we feel safe as a county to tell residents they have to start moving out and make it an evacuation."
A draft of the suggested mandatory evacuation should be completed in a few weeks.
