MS Mo 375 Chief Ray Pope - Pearl River Flood of 1979 - a podcast by USM Center for Oral History

Easter Weekend of 1979, the Pearl River flooded, displacing some 17,000 families in the Jackson area alone. Ray Pope was the Jackson Police Chief at that time.  He recalls the tireless efforts of his officers to warn those in the path of the flood.

With so many driven from their homes, there were concerns that widespread looting would take place.

Pope expresses his opinion of why looting wasn’t a big problem. Pope also remembers how police officers used their own personal boats as well as those loaned to them by private citizens to patrol and protect the flooded streets of the city.

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