Historic Mississippi River Flood Brings Highest Crest on Record Below St. Louis

[phantom power]

A historic and unseasonable flood has brought the highest flood levels ever recorded to the Mississippi River south of St. Louis, thanks to more than 10 inches of rain that fell over a three-day period that began Christmas Day. At least 25 deaths in Illinois and Missouri are being blamed on the flooding. The Mississippi River crested at its third highest water level on record in St.Louis on January 1. On January 2, the southward-propagating crest brought the second highest flood on record to Chester and the highest flood on record to Cape Girardeau and Thebes. On Monday, January 4, the crest is expected to be about 200 miles south of St. Louis at Caruthersville, Missouri, bringing the third highest flood ever observed there. The latest flood forecasts for the Mississippi River issued Sunday evening by NWS River Forecast Center predicted no other locations would see an all-time record crest, with crests between the 2nd and 10th highest on record expected along mos

The record flood is putting record stresses on portions of the Mississippi River levee system. According to the Associated Press (AP), the Len Small Mississippi River levee near Miller City, IL--just north of the river's confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois--was breached Saturday, bringing the total number of levee breaches from the flood to eleven. The area affected was mostly agricultural, but about 500 people living behind the levee in the towns of Olive Branch, Hodges Park, and Unity were told to move to higher ground. The Len Small levee is a local flood control district levee that fronts the Mississippi River, and is not a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers levee.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=3216

[LuvNewcastle]

1. In January?

Hopefully we won't see a lot of snow in the north this year. It could be disastrous when all that snow melts in the Spring.

[OnlinePoker]

2. Yah...normally April/May timeframe for floods.

All that El Nino rain is kicking ass this year.