The house is on a lake in central Mississippi near the backwater-flooded Yazoo River.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The task is made more difficult by the Yazoo River, which empties into the Mississippi north of the bridges, increasing the speed of the current.

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The backwater levee is designed to keep water from backing into the Yazoo River delta and is designed lower than the mainline levee so that water can flow over it.

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Laura Hipp, spokeswoman Barbour's office, confirmed that a house owned by the governor in his native Yazoo County was flooded by the watery onslaught moving southward down the Mississippi River.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS