Water creeps on campus as Pearl River rises

Water covers the Prep soccer field

As students arrived on the Prep campus on Monday, they found that the river had beaten them there. Areas near the baseball and soccer facilities, as well as parts of the back campus, were under varying amounts of water.

As the Pearl River rose higher after heavy rains, predictions of flooding in the Jackson area made local and national news. As a result of the flooding, water from the Ross Barnett Resevoir was partially released into the Pearl. 

Mississippi governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency concerning the flooding mainly in Jackson. Some residents in Jackson were being encouraged to evacuate their homes.

In response to the flood warnings, the school made some changes to its normal schedule. In a Monday e-mail, parents of non-driving students were asked to arrive on campus to pick up their students at 3:10 PM to prevent any blockage for Junior High football buses, as well as preventing the backup traffic leading onto Lakeland Drive. 

All 10-12th graders not involved within football, cheer, pacer or Reveillon were to be dismissed at 2:15 on Monday and Tuesday to alleviate congestion in the parking lot; Students not be able to leave at this scheduled time will be directed to their fixed carrier. All after school activities will still continue.

Sports at Prep have also been variously affected by the flooding. The JA softball game on Monday was moved to Prep. Several sports including football and soccer are forced to share the turf for practice, and space is limited for the practices that will take place due to flooding. Football practice remains mostly unaffected, but soccer practice has been rescheduled for a later time in order to accommodate for other activities.



This story was compiled by the members of the Sentry I class: Isabella Bryant, Res Ishee, Elizabeth Sweat, Evelyn Waterloo, Noble Wilkinson, and Elliot Williams