Although Columbia was mostly unscathed by the strong winds of Sunday night’s tornado, downtown received heavy rainfall that led to the flooding of several buildings along Main and Second streets.
Mayor Justin McKenzie said once city workers and first responders were able to arrive on scene with the proper equipment, they were able to get the floodwaters to recede quickly. When shop owners opened their doors, McKenzie said water was just pouring out of the businesses. Two sources reported to McKenzie that the rainfall totaled six inches in a very short timeframe.
“It was such a torrential downpour at one time that the storm drains weren’t built to contain that type of rainfall,” he said. “It just completely inundated all of our systems.”
The Columbia Fire Department had several issues because of the storm, delaying its immediate response. The department on Evergreen Street lost power and had its generator kick in only for the generator to stop working minutes later. With no power, the electric doors wouldn’t open so the firefighters had to get on top of the truck and manually pull the doors open. The station on Pearl Street had wind damage during the storm and was forced to take precautionary measures at the station before heading downtown to assist. Even the radio channels the departments use to communicate went out, and McKenzie characterized the series of unfortunate events as “the perfect storm.”
However, the community rallied together to limit damage downtown as soon as it could.
“This was definitely the worst I had personally seen,” McKenzie said. “I had put out a Facebook live video just asking for help, and the outpouring of love and support that came from the community was great. There were so many people that showed up downtown to help store owners dry out their stores, wipe down and provide equipment. It was truly a community effort to get the stores dried out and cleaned up as soon as possible.”
The mayor added the city and downtown store owners were prepared for high winds, hail and potentially a tornado, but nobody expected the exorbitant rainfall. He said had they known there was going to be that much rain, they would’ve been on standby with their water pump.
“We were expecting the wind and stuff like that so we had equipment loaded up and calls ready to respond and help from that angle but not necessarily from a flooding angle,” he said.
Tina May, owner of Polished Boutique & Salon, said her business on Main Street took in about six inches of water, but she has dealt with flooding in the area for so long that she didn’t have any merchandise on the floor that could’ve gotten wet. She had recently installed new waterproof flooring, and this was the first time downtown had flooded since it was installed. She said it held up very well, and with the help of more than 20 people they were able to get the water completely out in an hour and a half.
May learned of the flooding in a group chat with other downtown business owners, and when Southern Grace Boutique said they had water she knew her business had it, too. Her store is usually the first to flood on Main Street.
“By the time we got here, the water on the sidewalk had receded. Then we opened the door and the water just came pouring out,” she said.
Michael Schepemaker said The Outpost and Sweet Olive Boutique had several inches of water, with The Outpost having more flooding because of the way the floor dips down. He said there was an outpouring of people that showed up to help Sunday night that stayed into Monday morning to get the water out.
McKenzie said Tuesday morning that the plan was to approve the starting of bids for Phase I of a five-part plan to improve downtown storm sewers during Tuesday evening’s city board meeting. The bid opening would last until July 7, and McKenzie said the hope is for work to begin shortly after that. The city received about $500,000 from the Mississippi Legislature for the first phase, which includes the installation of a new 60-inch storm drain that will run from Broad Street to South Main Street. The current storm drain is 48 inches. McKenzie said the new pipe will also eliminate existing elevation issues that he hopes will make a huge difference in downtown flooding.
McKenzie has been working with State Rep. Ken Morgan on getting additional funding for the remaining phases, and he said he hopes the city will get it when the legislature returns to Jackson. The session is currently suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. He said the city is also applying for several grants to potentially get funds as well.
“Hopefully we can get moving on it soon and make a tremendous difference with everything,” he added.
Even if the city had the funds available to start work on all five phases at once, McKenzie estimated that it would take 18 months to complete. But with Columbia currently only having the money to complete the first phase right now, McKenzie said it’s hard to put a timetable on when the overall project will be completed.
