Myrtis Martin operates a small convenience store just 1.5 miles from the Mississippi River. Two weeks ago her business was 7 feet under water. While sitting in a plastic lawn chair in the center of her store she is confident that she will pass the inspection in 30 days thus allowing her to rebuild. Today her grandson Charles helps her scrape up floor tile and remove what little drywall is still hanging on the studs.
While visiting with Myrtis several locals stopped in to see how she was doing. This community is used to overcoming high water and some minor flooding but this year was different. The water is higher than it has ever been. A local fisherman shared that he has 200 traps in the water and he should be pulling 35-40 bags of crawfish every day. Instead only three bags were his catch on this day. Willis explains that he thinks the water is so high and moving so fast that the crawfish can’t hang on to anything.