Anderson Jones woke up May 19 and knew it was time to go. 'I wasn't going to leave until the water practically got into my house.' hereandnow Jones lives in a small Mississippi farming community where crops are normally growing tall this time of year.
Anderson Jones stands by his flooded home outside of Fitler, Miss."I tried to stay and hold on as long as I could," he says. The rising floodwaters had been threatening his house in the Mississippi Delta since February. But now, the sandbags were failing.
Jones lives near the small town of Filter, Mississippi, a community of farms in an area known as the Yazoo Backwater where soybeans and corn would normally be growing tall this time of year. The water has changed all that. Many farmers will go the entire seasonThe deluge has destroyed homes and livelihoods up and down the Mississippi River this spring. Gauges near Vicksburg, Mississippi, have been above flood levels for 110 days. The river hasn't been this high for this long since 1927.
Hatcher and Jones say the problem could have been avoided — as does just about anyone who has been living with the water since February. In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed athat had been planned for decades. The pumps would have sucked the water out of the"bathtub," but environmental groups said they'd also dry up pristine habitat for birds and fish.
When Jones arrived, a little mutt named Patch whined with stress — or excitement — and then jumped down from the wall to take drink from the water. It was black because the septic tank had backed up and flooded the home with sewage.Anderson Jones' dogs had been living on top of the wall of sandbags that surrounded his house.
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