Mississippi Recovers From Worst Floods Since Katrina

Mississippi officials say the damage from floods this month is the most widespread the state has had since Hurricane Katrina.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Lee Smithson tells The Clarion-Ledger federal and state assessment teams have been on the ground in the Delta and will head to the Hattiesburg area on Tuesday.

Smithson says extensive flooding in those areas has left hundreds of houses and businesses damaged and destroyed.

Smithson said Coahoma, Bolivar and Washington counties have been assessed, but there are still more Delta counties to go.

He says FEMA, MEMA and the Small Business Administration have been leading the assessments.

Officials are urging that flood victims get in touch with their county officials.

The Environmental Protection Agency says its contractors collected nearly 3,000 tons of residential debris and hazardous material as part of a flood cleanup effort in eastern Missouri.

EPA Region 7 said Tuesday that the material was collected following the devastating December floods that caused significant damage in St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin and Jefferson counties. The Federal Emergency Management Agency assigned residential debris collection duties to the EPA.

EPA officials say the debris included, among other things, 179 propane tanks, more than 1,000 appliances such as refrigerators and stoves, and 1,310 tons of sandbags.