Mississippi crests in Vicksburg, claims 1st life

VICKSBURG, Miss. – The Mississippi River crested at more than 14 feet above flood stage in Vicksburg on Thursday, a slightly lower than expected level that eased worries about water potentially spilling over a nearby levee and inundating thousands more acres of farmland.But officials warned that the flood was by no means over. The river was expected to stay at its crest for several days before beginning a long, slow retreat. It could remain above flood stage until mid-June."The crest is by no means the end of it," said Col. Jeffrey R. Eckstein, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers' Vicksburg District.In one of the city's hardest-hit areas, mechanic Chris Lynn has paddled a small aluminum boat across his flooded property every day to mark the water line on his shop. Water has crept close to his mobile home, though it has yet to go in."My son died in a car accident a few months ago, so this ain't nothing. But to a lot of people, it is," he said.Authorities had been worried for days that water might spill over the Yazoo Backwater Levee north of Vicksburg. But because the water was not expected to rise any higher, they did not expect to evacuate any more people. Some 2,000 city residents have already been forced from their homes.Also Thursday, authorities reported the first person to die in Mississippi floodwaters since the mighty river began climbing out its banks last month in the Midwest — a 69-year-old man who apparently collapsed in the high water.