Mississipi River system flooding

You know it's bad when they had to close Harrah's here in Tunica on Sunday.
But we did get a chance to eat at Paula Deen's buffet on Friday night, which turned out to be a culinary must!
 
How high's the water momma? - 5 feet high an' risin'...
:eek:
Mississippi River reaching record levels
May 7, 2011 - Communities along waterway grapple with water levels not seen in decades; La. Gov may open spillway northwest of Baton Rogue
Thousands of people living along the Mississippi are evacuating their homes for higher ground, as the river approaches levels not seen in decades. Many more people are waiting for word on whether they should leave. River levels are already higher than the great floods of 1927 and 1937. In eight states, communities that live by the river now live in it. CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann says communities like Finley, Tenn., will be grappling with rising waters for most of this month. It has already begun in Memphis, where there has been some flooding downtown - and the Mississippi doesn't even crest there until Wednesday.

Memphis a "high-impact area"

In Tennessee, local authorities were uncertain whether they had legal authority to order evacuations, and hoped the fliers would persuade people to leave. Bob Nations, director of emergency management for Shelby County, which includes Memphis, said there was still time to get out. The river is not expected to crest until Wednesday. "This does not mean that water is at your doorstep," Nations said of the door-to-door effort. "This means you are in a high-impact area." About 950 households in Memphis and about 135 other homes in Shelby County were getting the notices, Shelby County Division Fire Chief Joseph Rike said. Shelters were opened, and the fliers include a phone number to arrange transportation for people who need it.

Graceland, Elvis Presley's home and one of the city's best-known landmarks, is about a 20-minute drive from the river and in no danger of flooding, spokesman Kevin Kern said. "We're on a hill, high and dry and open for business, and will stay open," Kern said. Water pooled at the lowest end of Beale Street, the thoroughfare synonymous with Mississippi blues, but it was about a half-mile from the street's world-famous nightspots. The main Memphis airport was not threatened, nor was FedEx, which has a sorting hub at the airport that handles up to 2 million packages per day. Bea, the civil engineer, said he is concerned because some levees across the U.S. have been built with inferior dirt, or even sand, and have been poorly designed.

"The standards we use to build these things are on the horribly low side if you judge them by world criteria and conditions," he said. "The breaches, as we learned in New Orleans, are the killers." How long the high water lingers, and how much damage it does to the earthen walls of the levees as it goes down, are crucial factors. "The whole summer will have to be watched," said J. David Rogers, a civil engineer at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

More Mississippi River reaching record levels - The Early Show - CBS News
 
ALL great river FLOOD CONTROL, however cleverly designed by man, is temporary.

If you really want to make mother nature laugh...build a levee.
 
No one who gets flood money this year should ever be eligible for it again.

It is plainly obvious where the floodplain is. Only those big government loving handout reliant folks should be rebuilding on site.

Not like we are the Low Countries.
 

Forum List

Back
Top