South Mississippi holds a charm and beauty that we cherish, yet our community faces a relentless, systemic threat from severe flooding. Waiting years for massive, slow-moving government concrete infrastructure projects leaves our neighborhoods vulnerable today.
Flooding is a natural cycle that can enrich our soil, but it shouldn't destroy human lives and homes in the process. We need to implement immediate, tangible environmental best practices that allow us to live safely alongside nature right now.

This is my breaking point. On Thursday afternoon, June 18, 2026, I had to be rescued from my home as floodwaters actively rose around me. This was the second time my home went underwater in less than a month.
Just three weeks and two days prior—on Memorial Day evening—extreme flash flooding completely overwhelmed Hancock County, taking a life in South Mississippi and entering into my new home. I live on a fixed income. I moved into a new-to-me MEMA cottage on New Year's and spent months slowly buying furniture. I bought the final pieces in May. That Monday evening, the Memorial Day flood hit.
I was in the process of cutting out damaged Sheetrock walls, removing floor tiles and even procured some concrete blocks. In the process of researching an electrician before raising my home when this second flood on June 18 wiped out both my newly renovated cottage and my friend’s 3 bedroom trailer.
This isn't my first time losing everything. I survived the 2012 flood that condemned my friend and I’s original house, told that was a 100 Year Flood. Then the 2015 flood that damaged the trailer we bought with FEMA assistance. Eleven years and three months after that 2015 disaster, the weather has worsened.

Vulnerable residents are being left behind. We cannot wait decades for a bureaucratic fix. We need to seed small, immediate, and tangible eco-projects that protect our homes today.

Whatever people believe about global weather patterns, no one can deny the facts we are living through: it is flooding heavily in areas where it never used to flood before. Because our local reality has outpaced old data, our community is being caught entirely off guard.
We are calling on our neighbors to build a community-led resilience network, and asking the Hancock County Board of Supervisors, local city councils, and federal emergency agencies to support these immediate, low-barrier ecological proposals:

Immediate Re-evaluation of Local Flood Maps: Demanding that local officials coordinate with FEMA to urgently revisit and update Hancock County’s flood maps to accurately reflect where the water is actually rising today, ensuring residents have the right data and access to insurance protections.
Community-Led Rain Gardens & Permaculture: Establishing neighborhood-managed food forests and rain gardens in flood-prone areas. By using deep-rooted native plants and community agriculture, we can create natural sponges that absorb thousands of gallons of stormwater runoff while feeding local families.

Grassroots "Swale & Culvert" Cleanups: Organizing volunteer neighborhood workdays to clear debris, leaves, and blockages from local natural drainage ditches and neighborhood swales to prevent immediate backups before it rains.

Resilience Education & Tool Sharing: Creating local workshops to teach residents how to use natural landscaping to divert water safely around their properties, alongside a community tool library to help fixed-income residents make quick, protective adaptations to their homes.

Fast-Track Assistance to Elevate Homes: Demanding that local leaders streamline and prioritize existing grant applications to help vulnerable residents physically elevate their homes, allowing natural floodwaters to flow safely underneath.

The beauty of South Mississippi should not come at the expense of our safety, our peace of mind, and our lives. By focusing on smart, ecological, community-driven mitigation and accurate mapping, we can protect our loved ones, cultivate our land, and safeguard our properties together.
Join me in launching this community movement. Please sign, share, and get involved in this petition today to make our neighborhood resilient!