Delta Business Journal
Levee Boards Meet With Sen. Hyde-Smith
March 31, 2026
DBJ
In February, the Mississippi Levee Board, based in Greenville, and the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board, based in Clarksdale, along with South Delta Planning District representatives, met with Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in her Washington, D.C. offices in Capitol Hill. The group discussed flood control projects located across the Delta, and how Mississippi River Ports can be made stronger to support the state’s river economy.
The Mississippi Levee Board was founded in 1884. This board is responsible for flood control and levee maintenance along the Mississippi River in the northwestern Mississippi Delta. Its jurisdiction covers approximately 1,000+ square miles across all or parts of these counties: Bolivar, Washington, Issaquena, and Sharkey.
The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board was also created in 1884, to manage flood control in the upper Mississippi Delta. This board is responsible for covering parts of ten counties: DeSoto, Tunica, Coahoma, Quitman, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Leflore, Yazoo, Humphreys, and Holmes, and is responsible for the mainline levee which maintains about 98 miles of the mainline Mississippi River levee, extending from just south of Memphis, TN, to the Bolivar County line.