President Joe Biden has officially declared the clean water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, an emergency.
With the emergency declaration, the Biden administration ordered federal assistance to help the state in relieving those effected.
Jackson has run out of clean water after recent heavy rainfall that has led to flooding, which on top of the pre-existing sewage issues in the city, has exceeded the infrastructure the city can control. Nearly 200,000 residents in the city lack access to water that is safe to drink, brush their teeth or bathe in.
Demand for bottled water became so high, that retailers were temporarily out of stock.
Jackson State football coach Deion Sanders said the water crisis has made it difficult for his players to shower or have access to ice for recovery.
“The devil is a lie,” Sanders said in video uploaded by his son, Deion Sanders Jr. “You ain’t gone get us today, baby.”
THE DEVIL IS A LIE! Jackson Ms has no water – Here’s how it’s affecting the JSU Football Team https://t.co/DI7H4Cwy72
— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) August 30, 2022
Since uploading the video, Sanders and the JSU football program have received donations to help get his players into local hotels to continue to shower.
After a snowstorm in 2021, many Jackson residents went from one to three weeks without water. In the JSU football team’s documentary, there’s a scene of Sanders taking a bath in a hotel pool due to not having clean water.
With the current crisis, the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency have coordinated all disaster relief efforts to ” lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in Hinds County,” the White House press release read.
