[2][3] It was the result of the Pearl River being overwhelmed by severe rain upstream.

The flooding of the Pearl River placed most of the streets of Jackson, the state's capital city, under several feet of water.

[4] This flood resulted from a storm system that was the same storm system[5][6] 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.

Northeast of Jackson, the man-made Ross Barnett Reservoir is formed by a dam in the Pearl River.

It flooded due to abnormally high rainfall in the preceding months (up to 150% more than usual).