Flooding, outages persist in Mississippi after Tropical Storm Arthur

Flooding kept roads closed and power outages active across Mississippi even after Tropical Storm Arthur weakened, leaving crews to deal with the storm’s aftermath and a fresh threat of more rain on saturated ground. MEMA said most of the state remained under an Elevated Level 2 flash flood threat through Saturday afternoon, June 20, with another 1 to 3 inches possible.

Gov. Tate Reeves declared a State of Emergency on June 19 as flooding spread across several counties. MEMA said Arthur had become a post-tropical system but was still driving flooding, road closures, power outages and damage to homes, businesses and public infrastructure across multiple counties in South Mississippi.

The storm also turned deadly in Franklin County, where MEMA said a county road crew member was killed while assisting with cleanup operations. The loss underscored how dangerous flood response remained even after the worst winds had passed, especially for crews trying to reopen roads and restore access to neighborhoods cut off by water.

Transportation remained a major problem. MDOT said State Route 26 and State Route 512 were still closed because of flooding impacts as of June 19, a sign that the disruption extended beyond isolated low spots and into key routes needed for repairs, deliveries and emergency response. WJTV reported on June 20 that flooding continued to affect parts of Mississippi and that the state was still working through the aftermath. Later preliminary damage results from WAPT showed seven homes destroyed and roads damaged, evidence that Arthur’s toll was still being tallied even after the rain began to ease.