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The mighty Mississippi River floods streets, homes and farms
by Joseph Ernest May 9, 2011
Newscast Media MEMPHIS, Tenn -- The mighty Mississippi River expanded to six times its normal width as residents evacuated from the worst flood to hit the central United States in more than 80 years. Late Monday, the US Army Corps of Engineers blasted a two-mile hole in a Mississippi River levee to relieve water pressure that, at its height Monday night, stood at a record-breaking 61.72 feet in Cairo, Ill. The historic river town is located at the bottommost tip of Illinois, where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet.
Officials patrolled stressed levees in waterlogged Memphis, Tennessee where the Mississippi -- normally about half a mile across -- is currently about three miles (4.8 kilometers) wide. The floodwaters already have engulfed homes along the shoreline and on Monday broke through a sandbag barrier set up around a condominium on the other side of the road.
Portions of the Mississippi were closed to shipping and the US Coast Guard opened flood gates outside of New Orleans to help protect the low-lying city as a flood wave makes its way slowly down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Meanwhile, Governor Steve Beshear of Kentucky said Monday most of the 3,800 people evacuated from counties along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers may soon be allowed to return home and assess the damage. In Missouri where waters have also begun to recede, Governor Jay Nixon sought federal assistance for farmers in 56 counties. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is seeking federal help for 14 counties while Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is seeking federal funds for 11 counties.
Up to a half inch of heavy rainfall is expected on Tuesday in the Memphis area, the National Weather Service reported Tuesday. Water levels were at 38.6 feet Tuesday morning and are expected to reach 40 feet by Thursday evening. If the level reaches 48 feet by next week, it will be less than one inch shy of the record set in the 1937 flood.
The corps is also considering using two floodways in Louisiana – one near Morgan City and another located about 30 miles north of New Orleans.
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