Mississippi Under Water

Mississippi Under Water

Introduction

One of the biggest issues that the united States have been facing and trying desperately to prevent are natural disasters. Natural disasters range from calm to deadly in a matter of minutes. They include hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, etc. All of these have caused their share of damage throughout history, but in my opinion floods are the most deadly. A flood is an overflow of water from either a lake or a river caused by excessive rain or other inputs of water. All throughout history people have tried to control the flow of water in rivers. It is good to live by big rivers because it allows easy access to water if you have crops, but it is very dangerous in the case of a flood. Governments spend millions of dollars every year in attempts to prevent floods, building things such as dams, levees, and other structures to help reduce the chances of a flood. These are very important for big rivers such as the Mississippi River, which in the year 1927 experienced one of the worst floods in history.

Background

The Mississippi River in my opinion is the most important river in the world. The Mississippi river is the third largest drainage basin in the world, which includes 1,245,000 square miles. The river is also important for transportation and supplying water for drinking, irrigations, and industries. In 1726 the first levee was built for the Mississippi river and by 1858 it stretch for about 1000 miles. These levees were thirty eight feet tall almost the size of a four story building. The army corps of engineers pronounced that the levee system would not fail and that it was a complete success in 1926. The flood of 1927 was caused by a series of events. According to the Arkansas news, “Early snow melts in Canada caused the upper Mississippi River to swell, while huge rainfalls occurred in the upper Midwest. By April, heavy rain fell over the lower Mississippi Delta. On April 10, 4 inches of rain fell on some parts of Arkansas. On April 20 a record rainfall of almost 9 inches fell on the Little Rock area, with more than 7 inches falling in just four hours” (Old State House). All of this played a huge role in one of the most deadly natural disasters in history.

The Event

The Mississippi flood of 1927 was by far one of the scariest natural disasters that ever it the United States. It all started with heavy rains in the summer of 1926 and by April 1927 the Mississippi River reached it peak. The levee system that was built began to break in one hundred and forty-five places and flooded twenty seven thousand square miles. The damage from the flood was estimated the size of all the New England states combined, according to PBS, “An area about the size of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont combined.” (PBS online). The numbers recorded after the flood took place were catastrophic. According to numerous statistics, “Over 130,000 homes