Prayer, Plants, Partnerships—A Moss Point Story

“I prayed for people to help me do this work, and God sent me the Grand Bay Reserve,” says Moss Point Mayor Billy Knight.

For decades, Moss Point, Mississippi has battled chronic flooding. Built on a swamp, at the confluence of two rivers, the city’s aging drainage systems cannot handle the volume and intensity of Gulf Coast storms. “We’ve just been patching this situation,” says Knight. “Now we’re doing more—we’re planning with experts, working with our community, and fixing what we should’ve fixed years ago.”

One of those experts is Margo Posten, a certified floodplain manager and the training and engagement coordinator at Mississippi’s Grand Bay Reserve. She specializes in using innovative solutions to alleviate flooding, like “green infrastructure.”

This technique uses natural elements to capture and slow stormwater runoff, allowing plants to transform nutrients and filter out pollutants and promoting slow release of stormwater so that it can recharge aquifers. Managing stormwater in this way alleviates flooding by reducing the amount of stormwater that the municipal system has to handle all at once.

“Smaller towns like Moss Point are often hit the hardest by stormwater problems, but they have the fewest resources to fix them,” Posten said. “That’s why green infrastructure is so powerful. It’s effective, affordable, and brings so many benefits beyond just managing the water.”

Posten had been working on stormwater and habitat issues in the Grand Bay watershed for almost a decade—but it wasn’t until Mayor Knight took office in 2021, and federal funding began to flow through, that the right opportunities came together. “It wasn’t a perfect storm,” she joked. “It was a perfect pastry. We finally had all the ingredients: political will, community trust, and the resources to act.”

Their collaboration began at Kreole Elementary School, where heavy rains regularly flooded the entrance and even the building’s lobby. “We saw the water coming into the school, and we said, ‘Let’s start here,’” says Knight. The school board and superintendent agreed.

The Reserve worked with partners to design a bioswale and rain garden system to capture and filter stormwater on-site, keeping it out of the city’s strained drainage system. Layers of organic soil, gravel, and native plants now slow the water down, giving it time to seep into the ground instead of flooding streets and classrooms.

“The first big rain after we installed it, water stayed out of the school,” Knight says. “And four months later, that system is still holding water.”

But the impact wasn’t just physical. The project brought in students—from elementary kids to Moss Point High School Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) teens—to help plant the rain gardens, learn about native species, and be stewards of their space.

“Getting the kids involved made it a true community project,” said Dennis McGrury, the Reserve’s stormwater project manager. “They weren’t just planting—they were learning how the system works. That kind of ownership and understanding is what makes a project sustainable in the long run.”

More projects are on the way. In the Rose Drive neighborhood—where flooding is so persistent that residents keep indoor furniture on bricks—the Reserve is helping the city create a stormwater park on land purchased from a local church.

Once complete, it will serve as both a recreational space in drier times and a place to hold floodwaters. With support from federal funding, the Reserve has completed the design of the park with direct input from residents. The project has also drawn interest from private, state, and county partners who are interested in pursuing its implementation.

“It’s going to be beautiful and functional,” said Knight. “The people helped design it, and now they’re excited to see it happen.”

The Reserve is also supporting planning for the downtown revitalization effort, where the city is working to bring in mixed-use development that includes housing, commercial space, and green infrastructure from the ground up.

“We’re in discussions with a major company that could bring new jobs to Moss Point,” said Knight. “But if we want them to come here, we’ve got to make sure this city can handle water. I’ve got to show them we’re serious about resilience. That’s why these projects matter.”

Looking ahead, the Reserve team sees Moss Point as a model for other towns on the Gulf Coast—places with similar histories, geographies, and challenges.

“We want people to see what’s possible,” said Posten. “Once they see it working, they start to believe it can work for them, too.”

In Moss Point, belief is turning into action. And rain by rain, block by block, it’s making a difference.