In the final stretch of a storm that left roads slick and bridges icy, Greenwood is faring well and can look forward to drier weather toward the end of the week.
T.W. Cooper, director of the Greenwood-Leflore Emergency Management Agency, said considering all the rain and ice that’s been dumped on the city, “everything over here looks pretty good.”
“There’s a little icing this morning, and it’s going to be a little slippery on bridges,” Cooper said. “But the rain leveled out on the roadways, and it didn’t actually freeze up like we expected.”
He added that there had not been any reports of damage.
Larry Griggs, vice president of operations for Greenwood Utilities, said he had not gotten any calls reporting weather damage over the past 24 hours.
Greenwood and Leflore County schools were open today, but Carroll County public schools were closed.
Daniel Lamb, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, said today that Greenwood is likely to have one more push of rain tonight that will last into the early morning Thursday. That rain could be mixed with snow, he said.
“This afternoon, temperatures will have risen above freezing, and showers should taper off. That should end the threat for ice,” said Lamb.
“Tonight there is a slight chance we could have some snow showers mixing in with rain, but we aren’t expecting any snow accumulation,” he said.
Lamb said that after tonight, things should clear up, at least for a little while: “Once we get passed the snow and showers we should see some dry weather heading into the weekend.”
Though Greenwood has been lucky, the Yazoo River has been the source of concern, and city officials are hoping the rain subsides soon enough to avoid flooding.
“Yesterday the river was up pretty high, which kind of concerned me, but you know what they say, don’t go looking for trouble,” said Cooper.
Concern over the water level of the Yazoo was also voiced at the Greenwood City Council meeting Tuesday.
Eddy Curry, superintendent of the Greenwood Public Works Department’s Wastewater Division, told the council that heavy rains have played havoc with the city’s network of pumps.
He said the Yazoo River stage as of Tuesday afternoon was 30-plus feet. The flood stage is 35 feet.
“We’ve got all of our pumps in operation. We’re hoping we don’t get a big rain anymore,” Curry said.
He said many of the city’s pumps are 50 to 60 years old and require “tender, loving care.”
• Bob Darden contributed to this report.
• Contact Jeanie Riess at 581-7235 or jriess@gwcommonwealth.com.
