NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors are trying to get federal funds to curb erosion problems imperiling a private road and several property owners’ access in the Sandy Creek area.
Government funds normally can’t be used for private thoroughfares, but money from Washington should be available since a public waterway is causing washouts in the southeast Adams County area, said county Supervisor Angela Hutchins.
Meeting Wednesday with impacted property owners, the Board of Supervisors provided assurances that help is coming.
Hutchins said contacts have been made with U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson’s office and the Department of Agriculture about federal funds available to remedy soil erosion or flooding problems.
Landowners in the problem-plagued region – near the Sandy Creek State Wildlife Management Area by the Franklin County line – have attended two county board meetings this month asking supervisors for remedies. They say their road is so seriously eroded by rainfall and creek overflows that their properties could soon be totally inaccessible by vehicles.
Hutchins said Carrie Road is not a public thoroughfare. It connects to Deerfield and Garden City roads. Supervisors earlier this month weren’t hopeful they could provide funds to correct the eroding byway since state law doesn’t allow county officials to spend public funds on private roads. However, they expressed more confidence Wednesday that federal funds could be available since a public creek is causing the problem.
The federal Emergency Watershed Protection Program provides money to address imminent erosion threats to properties, but it does usually require local governments or recipients to pay part of the remediation costs.
There are houses and hunting camps in the impacted Adams County area about 20 miles southeast of Natchez. U.S. Postal Service carriers have stopped delivering mail to area residences because of deteriorating road conditions, according to those affected. Emergency and utility vehicles are also unable to drive the road.
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