Mississippi river crests as most detrimental is over for Memphis

The Mississippi river has been enlarged and flooding for several weeks. Some of the most detrimental flooding in years has battered the southern areas of The United States. The most detrimental of it is over for Memphis, Tenn., as the river has crested near the Music City and floodwaters will only recede from here on. Though Memphis is past the worst of it, several other areas are still in danger of flooding.

Homeless people

There are finished 1,000 homeless individuals now. Still, nothing in TN that was considered a landmark was hurt. The floodwaters didn’t hurt the Beale Street district. BBC states that this can be a Music City landmark. Elvis Presley’s home in his life until he passed away in 1977, Graceland, was not touched once by the Mississippi. Even if people had to “charge hell with a water pistol,” they would keep Graceland safe. This is what a Shelby County Emergency Management Agency official explained. Some 1,300 homes have been evacuated, and there is concern, according to CBS, that pending late spring storms could bring further flash floods in the Memphis area. The water will take a while to recede.

Worry from the Mississippi

After the snowfall near record on the East Coast of the U.S., the Mississippi river has gotten very high. Memphis’ floodwaters were just 10 inches lower than the 1937 record hitting 48 feet. Though the worst of the danger is coming to an end in Memphis, there is considerable danger left for the rest of the cities and states along the path of the Mississippi river. Floodwaters are already coursing through the rest of the Mississippi river system and in the Mississippi river delta, and precautions are being undertaken to be able to ensure that the area is safe. The Bonnet Carre Spillway was recently opened by the Army Corps of Engineers in order to relieve pressure from floodwaters on New Orleans’ levees, according to MSNBC. There are already floodwaters flowing through the delta. Still, there are measures being taken in preparation.

Terrible flooding

Though the current flood amounts are bad, they’re not as bad as the 1927 floods that killed hundreds of people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, according to the Christian Science Monitor. There is more than 2,000 miles of levees that were constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in response to the 1927 floods. The problem is that when the spillways are opened with the flooding, the Mississippi water just floods somewhere else. As the water gets closer to the Gulf of Mexico and spillways have to open, finished 900,000 acres of farmland in Arkansas is expected to flood.

Articles cited

BBC

bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13337548

MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com/id/42973616/ns/us_news-environment/

CBS

cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/09/travel/main20061138.shtml

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0509/Mississippi-River-nears-crest-in-Memphis-but-concern-shifts-south