1979 Easter flood

{{Short description|Severe weather event in Mississippi, US}}

{{Infobox weather event

|name=1979 Easter flood

|caption=Flood waters inundated Downtown Jackson during the 1979 Easter flood.

|image=

}}{{Infobox weather event/History

|duration=April 1979

}}{{Infobox weather event/Effects

|total damages=$500 million then
${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|0.5|1979|r=2}}}} billion today{{Inflation-fn|US}}

|fatalities=4

|affected= Hinds, Madison, and Rankin counties, Mississippi, U.S.
100px
Map showing the Pearl River in Mississippi.

}}{{Infobox weather event/Footer}}

The 1979 Easter flood was one of the most costly and devastating floods to ever occur in Mississippi, United States, with $500–700 million in damages (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|0.5|1979|r=2}}}} billion in 2020 dollars).{{Inflation-fn|US}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/?n=1979_04_17_easter_flood |title=NWS Jackson, MS 1979 Pearl River Flood |access-date=2014-07-17 |archive-date=2014-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809194248/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/?n=1979_04_17_easter_flood |url-status=dead}} It was the result of the Pearl River being overwhelmed by severe rain upstream. Floodwaters sent the Pearl River 15 feet above flood stage. More than 17,000 residents of Jackson, Flowood, Pearl, Richland, and other settlements in the Jackson metropolitan area were forced from their homes. The flooding of the Pearl River placed most of the streets of Jackson, the state's capital city, under several feet of water.{{Cite web|title = Facts {{!}} Pearl River Vision Foundation|url = http://www.pearlrivervisionms.com/media-center/facts/|website = www.pearlrivervisionms.com|access-date = 2016-02-15|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160306025157/http://www.pearlrivervisionms.com/media-center/facts/|archive-date = 2016-03-06|url-status = dead}}

This flood resulted from a storm system that was the same storm system{{cite book |last=Hederman |first=T.M. Jr. |title=The Great Flood: 1979 |year=1979 |publisher=Hederman Brothers |page=7}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/?n=1979_04_17_easter_flood |title=NWS Jackson, MS 1979 Pearl River Flood |access-date=2023-05-27 |archive-date=2014-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809194248/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/?n=1979_04_17_easter_flood |url-status=dead }} that, just a few days earlier, produced the Red River valley tornado outbreak that is particularly well-known because of the devastating Wichita Falls, Texas tornado that killed 42, injured over 1,700, left an estimated 20,000 homeless, and caused, in 1979 dollars, approximately $400 million in damages.{{cite web |title=Wichita Falls, TX Tornadoes (1900-Present) |url=https://www.weather.gov/oun/tornadodata-city-tx-wichita_falls |website=Norman, OK Weather Forecast Office |publisher=National Weather Service |access-date=5 January 2022 |language=EN-US}}