Wet / Dry Extremes Hammer the Nation

This week, the aftermath of heavy rains and flash flooding in Mississippi prompted presidential approval of Governor Tate Reeves emergency declaration – unleashing federal assistance alongside state response efforts. 

Potable and non-potable water was distributed to the over 150,000 residents of Jackson already reeling from long-standing infrastructure issues – including a boil notice in place since July - after tests found cloudy city water could lead to health problems.

Gov. Tate Reeves/R-Mississippi: “As we as we work to fix the problems inside the plant, we are hopeful that we were able to be able to increase the quantity of the water, which will ultimately get the tanks more full, and ultimately lead to a scenario in which we can do the proper testing and actually produce clean water.”

Failures at one of two water-treatment plants plagued the capitol city with low water pressure – inhibiting showers, toilets and firefighting efforts.

The Pearl River crested just over 35 feet Monday, as farmers in neighboring Madison County saw corn, soybean and cotton crops devastated just weeks before harvest.  One producer says damage estimates for one of his better yields are in limbo as floodwaters loiter.

Cody Parker/Madison County, Mississippi:  “Before it was over with, you couldn’t hardly tell it was a cotton field.  Nothing but water.  And then we looked up and you see a deer swimming across the top of it.”

Elsewhere around the nation, flash-flooding and damaging winds in Michigan, Indiana and Virginia are blamed for the deaths of three people, including two children.  Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses also were left without power.

And in drought-stricken California, firefighters are battling two blazes in rural areas of Los Angeles and San Diego counties, prompting evacuations in the midst of a scorching heat wave that could bring triple-digit highs through Labor Day.

Vanessa Salazar/California State University Northridge:  “I’m like super hot in here.  I feel like I’m going to have a heat stroke.”

For Market to Market, I’m Josh Buettner.