Flooding In Memphis

Photo credit:  AP

The Mississippi River continues a slow climb towards near record flood stages in the middle of the country as the combination of excessive recent rains and excessive winter snowfall that's melted drain their way through the middle of the country.   After having to blow up a levee near Cairo, Illinois, to save the town from record flooding along the Ohio River last week, flood waters inch their way downstream along the Mississippi towards their final destination in the Gulf of Mexico.   Memphis is the current "hot zone" in the battle against nature as flood waters climb higher and approach the rising waters, with the Army Corps of Engineers watching levees along the river to ensure they hold against what the worst flooding along the river in 75 years.

Assuming the levees hold in Memphis, a number of properties (about 3,000) in an area of over a million people would have been submerged or at risk of being submerged by the flood waters.   The levee system was designed after flooding ravaged the city in 1927.   The Mississippi, which is normally a half mile wide as it flows through Memphis, is currently about three miles wide thanks to the record surge of water downstream.    The river, which is expected to crest on Tuesday, will be slow in its recession and river levels could remain quite high for another ten days in the Memphis area.

Farther downstream, river levels may hit records at Vicksburg, Mississippi and Natchez, Mississippi later on this month.   The most critical test, according to hydrologists and meteorologists, will be with the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana in late May.   This floodgate system was designed to prevent the Mississippi River from diverting to a shorter course along the Atchafalaya River, thereby bypassing Baton Rouge and New Orleans and altering the landscape of Louisiana.

Anatomy Of Plains Flood

The Red River of the North floods almost every year...it's hard for it NOT to flood considering that the river flows from south to north, heading into a snowy and icy realm in Canada that takes forever to melt in the Spring. As a result, the slow moving stream floods each Spring, almost like clockwork.

The above video shows a time lapse of the Red River from January 1st through yesterday.   The last 15-20 seconds really hit home as you can see the impact of the flood waters on the river embankments and on the monument in the time lapse.   Crazy stuff!

For those who care, the Red at Grand Forks crested at its third highest level ever a couple of days ago at 49.87 feet.  That is five feet below 1997's high water mark, which is the flood of record for the region and destroyed much of the city.

NOAA Warns of Spring Flooding

NOAA released its spring flood risk assessment today -- stating that much of the Northeast and Midwest has a higher than average risk of flooding due to the combination of excessive rains of late plus melting snow farther north.   The highest risk areas are confined to the Upper Midwest, the Red River Valley, Mississippi River Valley, and around the Mid Atlantic...specifically North Jersey, the upper parts of the Delaware River basin (above Stroudsburg).   It shouldn't come as a surprise that we're in a heightened risk -- perhaps this is a bit of a captain obvious moment from NOAA considering we had a near miss on flooding one week ago at this time.   However, short of a prolonged "break" in precipitation the risk for some flooding along streams and rivers throughout the Delaware Valley is heightened.

The areas that are most at risk will be in Minnesota and the Dakotas -- partly because of all the snow these areas have received (top ten season at Minneapolis) but also because of the path of the Red River of the North.   This stream has its headwaters in North Dakota and flows northward.    That's not an issue in the summer, fall, or winter.  However, because snow persists to the north in the spring longer than it does in areas to the south flooding is an annual concern along the Red, with three major floods in the last sixty years and two since 1997.   The Mississippi is also at risk -- due to heavy rains in the Midwest but also the heavy snow pack in its watershed in Minnesota.  It could also see flooding on a par with 1997 (which was top 5-top 10 in Minnesota).