Numerous streets in Picayune experienced flooding, and number of homes on some of those streets took water during the heavy rain that fell all day Monday and into Tuesday morning, dropping more than 11.7 inches of rain in the gauge at Picayune Junior High School.

One street that experienced a lot of flooding was Brookdale Avenue where 40 homes were damaged by flood waters, said Pearl River County Emergency Management Director Bobby Strahan.

Brookdale resident Lucilla Jenkins said her home flooded with up to six inches of water in one room. That water damaged new furniture she had just put in the home and two cars in the yard.

“It was bad. It moved everything in here,” Jenkins said. “It was so bad you had to put rubber boots on to walk around the house.”

Residents of the neighborhood watched the rain pour all day as the water rose, then receded until about 7 p.m. when the water began to come inside the homes.

“That water (in) came so fast you didn’t have time (to act),” Jenkins said.

That night, with no place to go and no way out, most residents slept in their flooded homes, Jenkins said.

The next day snakes infested the streets where residents report that about 10 of the reptiles were killed, said Andrea Brown.

Brown, owner of Brown Funeral Home, said that while her home did not take water, her business did. About six to eight inches of water infiltrated the funeral home.

Nearly every home on Brookdale Avenue flooded, along with homes on Fern and Martin Luther King Boulevard, Brown said.

Sally Knox said her home on the corner of Brookdale Avenue and Fern Street was fortunate; the water came up to the door but did not come in the house.

Elizabeth Stewart was not so fortunate. After spending nearly four months repairing the damage that Hurricane Katrina caused to her home, this flood brought about four inches of water inside. The flooding did not recede until about 1 a.m., she said.

“Now I got to do it again,” Stewart said about home repairs.

She said she will try not to live in another Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer if she can help it.

“I’d rather get by without a FEMA trailer,” Stewart said.

Another street where flooding occurred was Woodglen Cove. Woodglen Cove resident Jeff Hensiek said council member Anna Turnage did what she could to assist. She waded waist deep in water and took a ride in Hensiek’s canoe as she attempted to help residents in her district. After only one telephone call, Hensiek said Turnage drove out to the flooded street and helped residents remove furniture and other possessions from their flooded floors.

After assisting residents on Woodglen Cove, she received a call from residents on another flooded street and went to assist them, Hensiek said.

Strahan said the Red Cross has been notified and is on its way to provide any assistance it can. The extent of the flooding each home endured will determine what kind of assistance the residents will receive, Strahan said.