Midwest, Southern states brace for the worst as record flooding threatens region

Monday, May 09, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: flooding, Mississippi River, health news

(NaturalNews) The Mississippi River continues to rise, and many areas around Memphis, Tenn., as well as in other states, have already been evacuated. Reports indicate that the Mississippi River has already crested 14 feet above flood stage, and it has done so days before experts predicted it. At the current accelerated rate of flooding, the river will exceed the 1937 flood record, which rose 14.7 feet above flood stage and destroyed 20 million acres of land, within just a few days (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/201...).

"This water that we're seeing coming by is moving two million cubic feet per second," explained Col. Vernie Reichling from the US Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) to reporters. "To use an analogy, in one second that water would fill up a football field 44 feet deep."

Other reports indicate that Vicksburg, Miss., is expected to see record cresting of 57.5 feet on May 18 in that area (http://beta.clarionledger.com/article/201105...), and all along the river, towns and cities are having to prepare as best they can for the coming floods. ACE has already detonated the Birds Point levee in Missouri (https://www.naturalnews.com/032259_New_Madrid...), released the Bonnet Carre Spillway in New Orleans (http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/05/09/midwest...), and it may demolish several other levees as well in an attempt to divert flood waters from cities and towns.

"We cannot get to the parks, which is underwater, or to other towns," said one man from Murphysboro, Ill., to CNN. "Most of the roads are closed, plus the water sewage plant is getting sandbagged. (If) the sewage plant shuts down, we won't have tap water to bathe in or drink."

Many areas of Memphis are already flooded or beginning to flood, and officials have been going door-to-door urging area residents in high-risk areas to evacuate. The worst is yet to come, however, as flood waters are expected to continue rising, affecting at least four million people living in and around the Mississippi River region stretching from Illinois all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.