(Tunica, MS) Last year, you needed scuba gear to get down some streets in Tunica County.
This year, things are higher and drier than ever in ways you’ve never imagined.
What a difference a year makes.
The historic floods sent dozens of feet of water over normally dry land, and left hundreds homeless.
Today, Cindy and Kingston Blenis look back at their neighborhood taking stock of the change, and the loss ”Lot more vacant lots because a lot of the houses had to be torn down. There’s still a lot of those left to be torn down”.
You don’t have to look far to find homes that are “red-tagged” meaning they’ll have to come down, or comply with strict new building codes.
County leaders say recovery has come at a snail’s pace ”Of course, it’s slow, but they’re matching the ordinance in place, building to code now” said Tunica Emergency Management Director Randy Stewart.
One of those codes, means many homes will have to be rebuilt several feet higher than before.
We’re told government insurance pays for the steel infrastructure, but homeowners have to get their new homes up on their new, lofty perch ”Just like you can see, the houses around here that I always joke they come with a parachute and oxygen mask” said Blenis.
To be sure, it’s a much different place. Even the bait shop has to be built on wheels so owners can pull it out in a pinch.
Plans for this area include parkland, and RV park and a hunting preserve. This small section here is the only part that will remain residential.
The Corps of Engineers has strengthened the levees in places where they showed weakness.
Meantime the casinos are still making repairs, and rebuilding damaged features.
The County’s river museum still remains closed with no firm re-opening date.
The flood of 2011 forever changed Tunica. ”I don’t think we’re ever gonna see another one like it in our lifetime” Blenis explained.
It certainly won’t happen this year. Our lack of a winter means little or no snow upstream, so no threat of serious flooding.