As if we have not had enough disasters and catastrophes lately we are now experiencing flooding of historic proportions in the Mississippi River Basin. NOAA released new projection on Monday May 2, 2011 that predicts that the Mississippi River flood levels will exceed the levels during the Great Flood of 1927; reaching a projected highest level ever recorded in Vicksburg MS. of 57.5 feet on May 18 (the 1927 crest was 56.2 feet).
If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break
If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break
And all these people have no place to stay
– Kansas Joe McCoy & Memphis Minnie 1929*
As if we have not had enough disasters and catastrophes lately we are now experiencing flooding of historic proportions in the Mississippi River Basin. NOAA released new projection on Monday May 2, 2011 that predicts that the Mississippi River flood levels will exceed the levels during the Great Flood of 1927; reaching a projected highest level ever recorded in Vicksburg MS. of 57.5 feet on May 18 (the 1927 crest was 56.2 feet).
Fortunately for the millions of people that live in the historic Mississippi River floodplain the flood controls on the Mississippi River today are much higher and more extensive than they were in 1927. However the flooding is already causing problems. As you may have heard , Army Corps of Engineers blew open a 11,000-foot hole in a Missouri levee , flooding farmland, in an effort to protect Cairo, Illinois from flood waters. A number of vulnerable communities along the river have already been evacuated in Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri.
Hopefully we will be fine down here in Louisiana. It is fairly certain that the Bonnet Carré spillway will be opened to help relieve flood levels in the river. This pushes saltwater fish species out of the Lake Ponchartrain Basin and can affect oysters which can be problematic to fishermen in that area.
Our friend John Ruskey and his Quapaw Canoe Company in Clarksdale, MS. is already being impacted by the flooding. The flood waters were up to the Quapaw Canoe Company building on May 2 requiring them to use sandbags to keep the water out.
Mississippi River flood waters right up to Quapaw Canoe Company in Clarksdale, MS. on May 2, 2011
John sent this email out today May 3, 2011:
**Please Note: All Guided Trips and river activities with Quapaw Canoe Company have been cancelled (or postponed) for the month of May 2011 due to the record high waters of the Mississippi River… Daytrips for tours of the effects of high water might be made available in select locations**
Y’all, its happening, “Project Flood,” the highest water in the Lower Mississippi Valley since the record-breaking high water of 1937 is coming downstream towards us. According to this morning’s forecast the flood of 2011 will be only half a foot lower than the 1937 record, which is a sobering statement. 10,000 workers have been sent home on indefinite leave from the Tunica Casinos. No one really knows what will happen although we do trust that the levees have been maintained and are stronger than they were 70 years ago. See below for a comparison of the record high water levels throughout the last century of record keeping.
Last weekend I ran my last guided overnight trip on the river for this flood, with a family of three, I am still trying to find the best way to share photos and description via the web, it used to be so simple and now its not…
Last night they exploded the Missouri Bootheel levee to relieve pressure on Cairo Illinois and Hickman, Kentucky, river water now flowing down the Birds Point New Madrid Floodway which hasn’t been opened since 1937. We saw premonitions of this when the Black River levee broke at Poplar Bluff, and then the Coldwater levee broke at Crenshaw and Sledge at the end of April. Will these smaller breaks will save us from larger ones? They are preparing to open the Bonnet Carre Spillway to save New Orleans. The water has come up so fast and now suddenly there is an historic high looming on the horizon. The flood of 1927 was the result of eight months of sustained high waters, but the flood of 2011 has reared and appeared in the space of a month. What’s the difference? With the loss of wetlands and river floodplains there is less space for the water to flow in the greater Mississippi Valley.
Read John’s full email here, including links to news articles
Please join us in sending good thoughts up to John that the flood waters do not cause him too many problems!
We will keep everyone updated of any further developments. Let us hope that the levees hold. We don’t need any more disasters!
Oh cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do no good.
Oh cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do no good.
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to lose.*
* written and first recorded by husband and wife Blues team Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929 in reaction to the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and later famously re-worked by Led Zeppelin in 1971.