VICKSBURG, Miss. (WJTV) – Rising water from the Mississippi River is putting emergency crews and neighbors in Vicksburg on alert.

In early April, Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs, Jr., declared a State of Emergency for the city due to rising river levels. The river has reached 48 feet and is expected to crest at nearly 50 feet by Monday, April 28.

Warren County and Vicksburg crews have closed multiple roads and reinforced levee walls. Crews have stacked sandbags in low-lying areas.

Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said the flood risk depends heavily on rainfall near the Ohio River.

“We’re communicating with our local, state and federal partners. We’re in constant communication with Corps of Engineers, with the City of Vicksburg. We’ve got the City of Vicksburg some resources that they requested. They’re blocking up to flood walls down there on Levee Street in anticipation that 49 feet may not have to block all of them up. We won’t know if some of these predictions and forecast. You know, they can go either way. Sometimes it just depends on the amount of rain that we get up north,” Elfer stated.

He said past floods have prepared the area well for what may come. Many homes in flood zones were elevated or removed after the 2011 flood.

Elfer believes the first week of May is when the area should see some relief when it comes to the water levels.