Barbour seeks declaration for flood disaster

Barbour seeks declaration for flood disaster

JACKSON — The rising Mississippi River is threatening to inflict another major blow on the state that is still staggering from the deadly tornadoes that have ravaged the South this spring.

Gov. Haley Barbour on Tuesday asked President Barack Obama to declare 11 counties along the Mississippi River as disaster areas in anticipation of flooding. Several Mississippi counties are already declared disaster zones because of last week’s tornados, which killed 35 people in the state.

Forecasters say the river level could challenge records set in Mississippi during catastrophic floods in 1927 and 1937.

AP
5/3/11