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Posted: 2022-09-01T19:26:06Z | Updated: 2022-09-01T19:26:06Z

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) Mississippi officials set up emergency distribution centers for handouts of water and hand sanitizer Thursday in the capital city of Jackson, as efforts to restore a flood-impaired, long-troubled water system continued.

Jacksons residents were already under a boil-water order before flooding from the Pearl River exacerbated long-standing problems at one of the citys two water treatment plants.

Officials said they made progress overnight in refilling tanks, treating water and increasing pressure at the O.B. Curtis Water Plant, the facility at the root of the latest water woes in Jackson. Residents closer to the facility had pressure approaching normal levels, the city said in a news release, but added that many in the city still had little or no water pressure.

At a midday news conference with Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and other officials, Reeves announced the opening of seven sites for distributing drinking water, non-drinking water and hand sanitizer. He said 600 National Guard members were aiding the response. The seven new mega-sites follow smaller scale distribution efforts at city fire stations, churches, nonprofits and businesses.

To everyone in the city: I know that you are dealing with a profoundly unfair situation, Reeves said in remarks aimed at city residents. Its frustrating, its wrong and it needs to be fixed.

Reeves and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency director Stephen McCraney stressed that the state would look for long-term solutions to the citys water problems.