Mississippi
A Mississippi flood relief project could harm 90,000 acres of valuable wetlands. Is it worth the tradeoff?
ROLLING FORK, Miss. — Anderson Jones first remembers his home flooding in 1973, when water from the nearby Mississippi River blanketed his family’s 10-acre farm and surrounded the shotgun house his father built, leaving it an island. The family tried to keep the water out, but when puddles started forming on the floor, a teenage Jones and his siblings were forced to evacuate.
“We was the only ones out here. Everybody had left,” recalled Jones, now 65 and still living in the same house in Issaquena County, Mississippi. “When the water started seeping in, and we couldn’t bring no equipment to try to patch it up, we had to go.”
Jones’ home sits on the western edge of the Yazoo Backwater Area, a 1,446-square-mile basin in Mississippi’s Delta region once dominated by river swamps and floodplain forests. Crop fields have steadily replaced these wetlands over the years, but those that remain support hundreds of plant and animal species and serve as a rest stop for millions of migrating birds each year.
Jones’ family settled here in part because they could live off the rich land. His father was a forester, and he and his nine siblings grew up squirrel hunting and helping with the family farm. “I’m not gonna move,” said Jones. “I’m not gonna give up what my dad had worked hard for, no sir.”
Imani Khayyam
/
Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk
While backwater wetlands depend on periodic flooding for survival, severe inundations in recent decades have decimated crops and pushed residents like Jones out of their homes, sometimes for months at a time. These floods have increased local support for a contentious government project that would install a sprawling pumping station in the backwater area.
Developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the so-called Yazoo Pumps project purports to reduce flooding while protecting farmers and minimizing environmental harm. But conservation groups insist the project would disrupt the area’s delicate hydrology, damaging at least 90,000 acres of forested wetlands at a time when federal wetland protections are fraying.
Concerns over wetland degradation have stymied past versions of the Yazoo Pumps project. In 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency used a rarely invoked authority to block construction of a smaller pumping station in the area.
Nearly two decades later, the agency has signed off on the Corps’ new pumps scheme, which cleared the way for the Corps to finally authorize the project on Jan. 16.
The EPA’s about-face has dismayed environmentalists, who argue the Corps’ latest pumps plan is just as harmful to backwater wetlands and wildlife as its predecessors.
“I don’t see how the damage is less than before,” said Eugene Turner, a professor at Louisiana State University’s Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences specializing in wetland management and loss. “You’re not getting conservation of wetlands—you’re having a drainage of wetlands.”
New scheme, old fears
The Yazoo Backwater Area is part of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, an ancient floodplain flanking the Mississippi River that stretches from southern Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico (which President Trump has ordered be renamed the Gulf of America).
Once home to 24 million acres of wetlands fed by the river and its tributaries, the valley has lost most of these river swamps to agriculture, and the Corps has used levees and other diversions to shield farmers and crops from recurrent flooding.
The agency’s newly authorized Yazoo Pumps project seeks to address continued flooding in the backwater area caused, at least in part, by its own engineering.
When the Mississippi River runs high, the Corps shuts a floodgate at the bottom of the basin to keep river overflow from backing up into the low-lying area. This traps rainwater from the entire Delta region on the other side of the gate and stops it from draining out of the basin, submerging farmland and properties in the area.
To remove excess water from the area during times of high flow, the Corps plans to install a giant pumping station next to the floodgate, capable of moving 25,000 cubic feet of water per second. Though the station would run year-round, the Corps claims its operating schedule will allow enough periodic flooding to sustain local wetlands while protecting homes and crops from the worst floods.
In all, the Corps estimates that about 780 homes in the backwater basin could see less flooding after the pumps are installed, including 309 homes in low-income communities burdened by environmental hazards.
Agency officials said the new plan will protect vulnerable residents while preserving the basin’s remaining natural resources.
“One of the misconceptions of this [project] is that the pumps are going to drain the entire Yazoo backwater [area] out … and that’s not the case,” said Brandon Davis, the environmental planning chief at the Corps’ Vicksburg District.
Imani Khayyam
/
Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk
Environmental groups counter that the Corps’ new pump plan would inflict lasting damage on a stretch of backwater wetlands roughly double the size of Washington, D.C.
Draining water from the area as proposed by the Corps would reduce how much and how often these wetlands are flooded—a change independent scientists confirmed would cause a chain reaction across local ecosystems.
“Reducing water levels will reduce the productivity of the wetlands,” said Alex Kolker, an associate professor at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. “It’ll reduce the amount of food they can produce, which will reduce the amount of wildlife and birds that a system like that can support.”
Kolker also worries the pumps could impair other wetland functions, like their ability to store carbon from the atmosphere and filter out contaminants from water. He said despite the Corps’ efforts to reduce environmental harm, the plan would still result in the “degradation” of habitats and ecological processes.
“You’re still going to have drying out in some of these wetlands, and particularly in some of the swamps,” he said. “It does look like many of the concerns from the environmentalists are still there.”
Corps officials acknowledged that the pumping system could alter flood patterns across roughly 90,000 wetland acres in the backwater area. However, they stressed that these hydrologic changes could be slight in many cases and would not necessarily translate to adverse impacts.
Irreversible impacts
Since the Corps cannot avoid harming federally protected wetlands with its approved Yazoo Pumps plan, the agency is legally required to offset the damage through compensatory mitigation—creating or restoring similar habitats to those destroyed.
The Corps plans to fulfill this obligation through a local “in-lieu fee program” operated by Ducks Unlimited, a national conservation nonprofit.
Under the proposed arrangement, Ducks Unlimited would generate “mitigation credits” by restoring and building new wetlands in the Mississippi Delta. The Corps would then purchase those credits to offset damage from the pumps’ construction and operations, according to agency documents.
The Corps used a complex technical formula to determine the amount of mitigation required for the project. Based on those calculations, Ducks Unlimited confirmed that it will need to restore close to 6,000 acres of wetlands in the Yazoo basin—an area seven times the size of Central Park.
“This is probably one of the biggest wetland mitigation projects in the entire country,” said Patrick Raney, Ducks Unlimited’s director of conservation services.
The project’s scale is reflected in its price tag and expected timeframe: Based on previous restoration work, Ducks Unlimited expects mitigation for the Yazoo Pumps to cost around $90 million and take up to 12 years to complete.
Despite the project’s lofty targets, Raney said his organization is equipped to execute the plan, which hinges on converting flood-prone farmland into new marshes.
“We feel pretty good that the amount of habitat that’s going to be picked up is a net gain,” he said.
Imani Khayyam
/
Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk
Other environmental groups described the Corps’ mitigation strategy as unrealistic and insufficient, claiming it doesn’t come close to compensating for damage to 90,000 acres of wetlands.
Erik Johnson, a conservation biologist and the director of conservation science at Audubon Delta, was skeptical that any mitigation plan could replace the distinct habitats and ecological benefits of the backwater area’s swamp forests.
“Some of this may, in fact, be unmitigable,” he said, explaining that it would take decades before restoration efforts could produce fully mature forested wetlands.
Davis, with the Corps, declined to confirm Ducks Unlimited’s cost estimate for the mitigation plan, saying it would be “premature” to speculate about pricing. The agency has committed publicly to purchasing all necessary mitigation credits before starting construction.
A costly about-face
Johnson and others’ warnings about the current Yazoo Pumps plan echo concerns from government agencies over past versions of the project.
When the Corps proposed building a pumping station in the backwater area in 2007, the EPA vetoed the project a year later, saying it would violate the Clean Water Act by causing “unacceptable adverse effects” on at least 28,400 acres of local wetlands. The agency stressed at the time that this veto would also likely apply to future versions of the project that did not significantly modify its main components.
More than 15 years later, the Corps put forward a new plan that would allow for more seasonal flooding than the rejected 2007 scheme—a change the agency hoped would make the project more palatable to the EPA.
On Jan. 8, the EPA released a letter expressing support for the Corps’ new project, stating that it would be “less environmentally damaging” than the 2007 proposal.
Stu Gillespie, a supervising senior attorney at the environmental law group Earthjustice, called the EPA’s January determination unprecedented and illogical. By allowing the current Yazoo Pumps plan to move forward, the agency is violating standards clearly established in its own veto, he said.
“This proposed project is going to impact over 90,000 acres of wetlands. That’s three times the amount that EPA prohibited in the veto,” Gillespie explained. “For them now to reverse course and say the veto doesn’t apply is unheard of.”
With the latest Yazoo Pumps plan now moving into its engineering and design phase, Gillespie did not rule out the possibility of litigation to force a judicial review of the EPA’s decision. Abandoning the veto and greenlighting the project dilutes the authority of the EPA and Clean Water Act, opening the door to further wetland conversion outside the Yazoo Backwater Area, he said.
“There’s a lot at stake,” Gillespie concluded. “Lifting this veto … lets the horse out of the barn, and there’s no way to get it back in.”
In Issaquena County, Anderson Jones said he hopes the approved Yazoo Pumps project will protect his ancestral home. The constant flooding has worn on him and his family, and he’s willing to try any solution that could offer some relief — even one that isn’t perfect.
“I’m trusting God that the pumps will work,” he said. “It can’t be no worser.”
This story is part of the series Down the Drain from the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting collaborative based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.
IRS raises 401(k) contribution limits for 2026
IRS increases 401(k) and catch-up contribution limits for 2026, allowing workers to save up to $32,500 for retirement.
Many Americans worry their retirement savings won’t last — and a new report suggests that fear may be justified in Mississippi.
Surveys have shown that Americans fear running out of money in retirement more than they fear death itself. People are living longer, which means retirement lasts longer, and retirement costs are rising.
A new report from CareScout, the long-term care network, finds that the average American at age 65 faces a retirement shortfall of $109,000. That’s the difference between how much income they can expect, from Social Security, savings and other sources, and how much they should plan to spend on the expenses of daily life.
American retirees are likely to outlive their savings in 41 states, according to the data.
The report draws on state-level estimates of life expectancy at age 65 (16 to 20 years, more or less, depending on the state), average retirement benefits, median net worth and expected retirement expenses.
How likely are you to outlive your retirement savings in Mississippi? Here’s what we know about life expectancy, expenses and how much retiring here costs.
Mississippi retirees face a $160K savings gap
The average Mississippi senior can expect about $682,000 in expenses and $521,000 in income in retirement. Projected shortfall: $160,000.
It’s the 13th-largest shortfall in the U.S.
The state has some of the most affordable food costs and home prices in the country, but overall wages are also much lower than the national average.
What’s a realistic retirement age in Mississippi?
Nasdaq studied realistic retirement numbers for each state. For Mississippi, they determined that a realistic retirement age is 61 and recommend having at least $764,676 saved.
Mississippi residents aren’t taxed on income from:
- Social Security benefits
- IRAs
- 401(k)s
- Pensions
- Military benefits
The state income tax is also being phased out.
How long Mississippians live after age 65
Mississippi ranked next-to-last for life expectancy in a CDC list of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data from 2022 is the newest available.
The Magnolia State had an average life expectancy of 72.6 years.
For men, Mississippi ranked 51st at 69.5 years. Women ranked 50th with an average life expectancy of 75.7.
At age 65, people in Mississippi are expected to live another 16.7 years, on average. It’s about 15.3 years for men and 17.9 years for women.
Retirement may last longer than you think
American life expectancy is about 79 years. By the time you reach retirement, however, you can expect to live longer than the overall life expectancy figure suggests. A woman of 70, for example, can expect to live to 87.
Many older Americans don’t know how long their own retirement is going to last: in other words, how long they are going to live.
Longevity literacy matters in retirement planning. If your retirement budget assumes you will live to 75, and you make it to 95, you will probably run out of money.
How to make your retirement savings last
Don’t want to outlive your savings? Here are some tips from the experts.
Ways to grow your retirement account faster
One surefire way to build retirement savings is to make aggressive contributions to a workplace retirement account.
The most successful retirement savers typically start saving early, contribute at least 10% of their income to a 401(k)-type account, and save continuously until they retire.
And try not to raid your retirement savings for a household expense. Instead, open an emergency savings account.
How timing Social Security affects your monthly check
The longer you wait to claim Social Security, the larger your monthly benefit checks will be.
Based on the longevity figures above, you’re generally better off claiming Social Security later in life, if you can afford to wait. Ideally, wait until age 70, when your monthly benefit maxes out.
In a 2025 story, USA TODAY explained the math behind that rule of thumb.
Mississippi cities certified for retirement living
There are 13 cities and towns in the Mississippi Hometown Retirement Program, also known as Welcome Home Mississippi.
The program encourages more people to retire in the Magnolia State. It uses no state income tax on retirement income, a tax exemption on the first $75,000 of a home’s true value and no state gift or inheritance taxes as selling points.
Certified cities “maintain high standards and boast many of the qualities and amenities retirees often seek when choosing a retirement destination,” according to the Welcome Home website.
Cities in the program include:
Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA Today and writes the Daily Money newsletter.
Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with USA TODAY Network. Email her at bbolden@usatodayco.com.
Odds of winning the Powerball and Mega Millions are NOT in your favor
Odds of hitting the jackpot in Mega Millions or Powerball are around 1-in-292 million. Here are things that you’re more likely to land than big bucks.
The Mississippi Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at June 25, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Mississippi Match 5 numbers from June 25 drawing
01-06-09-13-23
Check Mississippi Match 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 3 numbers from June 25 drawing
Midday: 3-3-8, FB: 5
Evening: 4-0-8, FB: 7
Check Cash 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 4 numbers from June 25 drawing
Midday: 2-8-3-2, FB: 5
Evening: 5-0-3-2, FB: 7
Check Cash 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash Pop numbers from June 25 drawing
Midday: 01
Evening: 07
Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Story continues below gallery.
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
Winnings of $599 or less can be claimed at any authorized Mississippi Lottery retailer.
Prizes between $600 and $99,999, may be claimed at the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters or by mail. Mississippi Lottery Winner Claim form, proper identification (ID) and the original ticket must be provided for all claims of $600 or more. If mailing, send required documentation to:
Mississippi Lottery Corporation
P.O. Box 321462
Flowood, MS
39232
If your prize is $100,000 or more, the claim must be made in person at the Mississippi Lottery headquarters. Please bring identification, such as a government-issued photo ID and a Social Security card to verify your identity. Winners of large prizes may also have the option of setting up electronic funds transfer (EFT) for direct deposits into a bank account.
Mississippi Lottery Headquarters
1080 River Oaks Drive, Bldg. B-100
Flowood, MS
39232
Mississippi Lottery prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing date. For detailed instructions and necessary forms, please visit the Mississippi Lottery claim page.
When are the Mississippi Lottery drawings held?
- Cash 3: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
- Cash 4: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
- Match 5: Daily at 9:30 p.m. CT.
- Cash Pop: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Mississippi editor. You can send feedback using this form.
See video of MS Lt. Gov. Hosemann speaking on redistricting
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann speaks on redistricting during the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, MS, on June 24, 2026.
PHILADELPHIA — When asked about his campaign plans for the statewide elections in November 2027, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has avoided giving a straight answer. Usually, he tells the media that his next focus is a long checklist of priorities to tackle next legislative session.
The governor’s race next year, the first this decade without term-limited incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves, is rumored to feature a crowded field. For current officeholders, even those who don’t work directly with the state Legislature, the bills that they can endorse and urge across the finish line are often the feathers in their cap touted on the campaign trail.
During the two days of political speaking at the Neshoba County Fair, Hosemann and other state leaders gave attendees a clearer view of what their goals are for those 60 days of debate.
Redistricting
One of the priorities common to most speakers was legislative and congressional redistricting in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibited drawing voting districts on the basis of race. Reeves initially called a special session on redistricting, specifically regarding the state Supreme Court districts, but he later canceled it.
The governor opted to cancel the session, he said, because Mississippi had already had its primary. Instead, he charged Hosemann and House Speaker Jason White, the leaders of each chamber, with navigating the process during the next legislative session.
Through their redistricting committees, both said at the Neshoba County Fair, they are preparing to do exactly that.
“The Democrats used [prior Supreme Court rulings] to make sure they elected Democrats and not the people that you wanted. Now the Supreme Court has changed that, and we’re back to ground one where we should be,” Hosemann said. “We’ve appointed a committee, they’ll be out in Mississippi … looking at who do you want to represent you and how is your district to be set up? It’s coming back to the people where it was before, where it should be today.”
Mississippi Rep. Scott Bounds and Sen. Lane Taylor, both of whom represent the Neshoba County area, are on their respective redistricting committees. Both promised that redistricting is among the first issues that the Legislature plans to take up in January, with Bounds adding that the focus is on redrawing the state legislative districts.
“I believe the best way to enact common sense, conservative policies is by electing Republicans to office,” Jason White said. “The Mississippi House of Representatives stands for that, and we will examine redistricting and elect more Republicans to local, state and federal offices.”
Reeves confirmed that he “would not be surprised” if there is a special session before the next legislative session begins in January, but that even without it, the Legislature “would definitely have redistricting done” before the statewide elections in November 2027. Reeves has the power to call a special session at any point.
K-12 and higher education
Hosemann and White took, if not opposite perspectives, then at least different approaches to improving the state’s public and higher education systems.
White’s primary focus, he said in his speech, lays again with school choice. He told the crowd that, while lawmakers were still drafting legislation, Mississippians could expect to see a similar attempt this upcoming year as representatives put forward in January.
“I think you’ll see most statewide candidates for governor fully endorsing the idea of school choice and pushing it forward. I think the reason they will do that is because they’re smart, they’ve been polling, they’re spending their money to see what issues are important to people,” White said after giving his speech. “They’re finding out that when you get outside of the room and have a real conversation with parents, they want those choices.”
The 500-page, sweeping bill from last year primarily proposed using state money to fund vouchers for students to attend private and charter schools. It passed the House, where it originated, in a narrow vote before getting a resounding “no” vote in the Senate education committee.
“I wish the Senate would come forward and say, ‘Look, we don’t want to go through all that again. Here’s what we would do,’” White said. “I wish there would be a way to find a win-win, but to this point, they’ve been unwilling to have a conversation. That makes it tough politics for me when they’re unwilling to even have a conversation.”
Hosemann has loudly opposed state-funded vouchers, and he took the dais to advocate for more funding in public schools. One of his education priorities for the next year, he told the crowd, was opening more special-purpose schools for children with disabilities and developmental disorders such as autism.
Where Hosemann and White have agreed is that Mississippi’s education systems are bloated. Hosemann spoke specifically about higher education, telling reporters after his speech that some institutions graduate fewer than 25% of their enrollment. He touted the benefits of performance-based funding in ensuring that schools are motivated to educate high-performing students, and Mississippians could likely see changes to the funding formula in 2027.
White has largely focused, for the moment, on K-12 public schools. He formed a committee on school consolidation that has zeroed in on small schools and districts, and top officials with the state education department have asked for the Legislature to draft a framework for closing schools in the coming years.
How big should the government be?
Maybe the only thing that every Republican speaker agreed on was that Mississippi’s government needs to be smaller, but they phrased reform in different ways.
Reeves promoted artificial intelligence that makes workflows more efficient and decreases the number of state employees needed to do a certain job. White urged the government to decrease property taxes, because the burden makes property owners “feel like they rent the property that they own.”
Hosemann pointed to a Senate committee on efficiency and transparency that has moved to eliminate 17 government committees and boards he described as useless. White formed a similar special committee on government efficiency that has met over the summer to weigh cost-cutting measures.
While details on which departments could be downsized and precise estimates of potential savings have not been publicly outlined, nearly every state official, member of the Legislature and candidate who spoke at the Neshoba County Fair promised significant reform next session.
Bea Anhuci is the state government reporter for the Clarion Ledger. She has covered Mississippi politics since the start of 2026. Email her at banhuci@usatodayco.com.
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