Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the deadliest recorded flood in the history of the Mississippi River?
The 1927 flood was the greatest flood in modern history on the lower Mississippi River. In the summer of 1926 until the spring of 1927, heavy rains fell in eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Ohio Valley. The White and Little Red rivers broke through the levees in Arkansas in February, flooding over 400km2 (99,000 acres) with 3 to 5m (9.8 to 16.4ft) of water.[10] The first levee break along the Mississippi River occurred a few miles south of Elaine, Arkansas on March 29.[2]
If the Mississippi River gets above 40 feet on the Memphis river gauge, the Nonconnah, along with other local streams and rivers connected to the Mississippi, will begin to experience backwater flooding, which is when these streams begin to flow backwards as the Mississippi river rises and fills them. Backwater flooding occurred in both the 1927 and 1937 floods along the Mississippi River. In the 1940s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built an earthen levee system with pumping stations along the northern side of Nonconnah Creek from its mouth to Prospect Street in South Memphis. During the 2011 Mississippi River floods, these levees kept water off of the northern side. However, backwater flooding occurred on the south side causing damage to several subdivisions. The creek also flowed backwards within its channel to the Lamar Avenue (U.S. Route 78) overpass.
The Mississippi River floods in April and May 2011 were among the largest and most damaging along the U.S. waterway in the past century, rivalling major floods in 1927 and 1993. In April 2011, two major storm systems dumped record rainfall on the Mississippi River watershed. Rising from springtime snowmelt, the river and many of its tributaries began to swell to record levels by the beginning of May. Areas along the Mississippi itself experiencing flooding include Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. U.S. President Barack Obama declared the western counties of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi federal disaster areas.[14] For the second time in 38 years, the Morganza Spillway has been opened, deliberately flooding 4,600 square miles (12,000km2) of rural Louisiana to save most of Baton Rouge and New Orleans.[15]
Prior to Mississippi River meltwater flood MWF-3, two other Mississippi River meltwater floods, MWF-2 and MWF-1, have been recognized. The first of these, MWF-1, consists of three separate, but closely spaced events that occurred between 16,000 and 15,450 (MWF-1a); 15,000 and 14,700 (MWF-1b); and 14,460 and 14,000 (MWF-1c) radiocarbon years ago. Each of these flood events had a discharge of about 0.08 to 0.09 sverdrups (million cubic meters per second). Collectively, they appear to be associated with meltwater pulse 1A0. Later, one of the largest of the Mississippi River meltwater floods, MWF-2, occurred between 13,600 and 13,200 radiocarbon years ago. During its 400 radiocarbon year duration, the maximum discharge of Mississippi River meltwater flood MWF-2 is estimated to have been between 0.15 and 0.19 sverdrups. Despite the large size of Mississippi River meltwater flood MWF-2, it is not known to be associated with an identifiable meltwater pulse in any sea level record.
The flood occurred on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries between April to October 1993. The flooded area totaled around 30,000 square miles (80,000km²)[12] and was the worst since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 as measured by duration, square miles inundated, persons displaced, crop and property damage and number of record river levels.
On May 3, 1849, a Mississippi River levee breach upriver from the city (around modern River Ridge, Louisiana) created the worst flooding the city had ever seen. The flood, known as at Sauvé's Crevasse, left 12,000 people homeless. While New Orleans has experienced numerous floods large and small in its history, the flood of 1849 was of a more disastrous scale than any save the flooding after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. New Orleans has not experienced flooding from the Mississippi River since Sauvé's Crevasse, although it came dangerously close during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
Historically, many towns have been built on floodplains, where they are highly susceptible to flooding, for a number of reasons:Excluding famines and epidemics, some of the worst natural disasters in history (measured by fatalities) have been river floods, particularly in the Yellow River in China – see list of deadliest floods. The worst of these, and the worst natural disaster (excluding famine and epidemics) were the 1931 China floods, estimated to have killed millions. This had been preceded by the 1887 Yellow River flood, which killed around one million people, and is the second-worst natural disaster in history.
Dyersburg, a city in northwestern Tennessee, experienced the worst flooding with over 600 homes and businesses inundated as the Forked Deer River, a tributary of the Mississippi, flowed backwards into southern areas of the city. On May 10, the river reached , the highest level reached at Memphis since 1937, when the river there reached a record , and the second highest level ever recorded, even surpassing the 1927 flood. Many local rivers spilled their banks, including Big Creek, the Loosahatchie River, and the Wolf River along with Nonconnah Creek. Subsequent flooding occurred in Millington, as well as suburban areas of Frayser, Bartlett, and East Memphis.
The 1931 Central China floods or the Central China floods of 1931 were a series of floods that occurred in the Republic of China. The floods are generally considered among the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded, and almost certainly the deadliest of the 20th century (when pandemics and famines are discounted). Estimates of the total death toll range from 145,000 to between 3.7 million and 4 million.
One of the deadliest floods in state history, and deadliest flash flood in U.S. history since the 2010 Tennessee Floods was caused by 8 to 10 inches of rainfall in over a 12-hour period. 23 people perished from the floods, and hardest hit counties include Greenbrier, Kanawha, Jackson, and Ohio.
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States, in large part due to the Mississippi River swelling to wide in spots. To prevent a repeat of the Great Flood of 1927, and better control river flooding in general, Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1928 to authorize the United States Army Corps of Engineers to build the Bonnet Carre Spillway (located above New Orleans and completed in 1931), the Birds Point floodway in Missouri, and the Morganza Floodway as part of the 1928 Mississippi River and Tributaries Project.
Construction of the levees that make up part of the Morganza Spillway began in the late 1930s. The Morganza Control Structure portion of the project was completed in 1954 and subsequently became incorporated into the Mississippi River Commission's 1956 project design flood, which added the Old River Control Structure (ORCS) in 1963 to the protections used to prevent Mississippi River flood. The Flood Control Act of 1965 provided further regulation over the Morganza Spillway's role in Mississippi River flood prevention. A concrete pit called a stilling basin was added at the Morganza Spillway in 1977 "to provide erosion protection after the velocity of water pouring through the open bays during a 1973 flood caused severe scouring of the land behind the bays."
The Mississippi River floods in April and May 2011 were among the largest and most damaging recorded along the U.S. waterway in the past century, comparable in extent to the major floods of 1927 and 1993. In April 2011, two major storm systems deposited record levels of rainfall on the Mississippi River watershed. When that additional water combined with the springtime snowmelt, the river and many of its tributaries began to swell to record levels by the beginning of May. Areas along the Mississippi itself experiencing flooding included Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
During the Mississippi River flood of 1993, riverside businesses and industries suffered extensive damage when the river crested at a record 32.2 feet (9.81 m), above flood stage. For a time, the Bayview Bridge, one of Quincy's two bridges, was the only bridge open across the Mississippi River between Alton, Illinois and Burlington, Iowa. The Memorial Bridge was closed from the end of June, due to water over its western approach. On July 16, 1993, the Bayview Bridge closed when the river submerged the land on the west side of the Mississippi River at Taylor, Missouri; Quincy's bridges reopened 73 days later on September 26, 1993.
The Great Flood of 1844 is the biggest flood ever recorded on the Missouri River and Upper Mississippi River in terms of discharge. This flood was particularly devastating since the region had little or no levees at the time. Among the hardest hit were the Wyandot who lost 100 people in the diseases that occurred after the flood. The flood also is the highest recorded for the Mississippi River at St. Louis. After the flood, Congress in 1849 passed the Swamp Act providing land grants to build stronger levees.
There were several major floods between 1849 and 1936 that moved Congress to pass legislation. The first significant federal flood control law was the Swamp Land Act of 1850. A flood on the Mississippi River in 1874 led to the creation of the Mississippi River Commission in 1879. Booming steamboat traffic on the Missouri River and a flood in 1881 led to the creation of the Missouri River Commission in 1884, but it was abolished by the River and Harbor Act of 1902. Floods on the Mississippi, Ohio, and other rivers in the Northeast led to the Flood Control Act of 1917, which was the first act aimed exclusively at controlling floods. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 led to substantial flood control funding. And a series of floods in 1935 and 1936 across the nation were critical in the passage of the Flood Control Act of 1936.
The Fitzroy River at Rockhampton has a long and well documented history of flooding with flood records dating back to 1859. The highest recorded flood occurred in January 1918 and reached on the Rockhampton gauge. The second highest flood in Rockhampton was recorded on 19 February 1954, when the Fitzroy River peaked at a height of 9.4 metres. Rockhampton's third worst flood was recorded on 12 January 1991, when the Fitzroy River peaked at 9.3 metres.
China has had 6 of the world's top 10 deadliest floods and landslides of all times; the top 5 all occurred in China. Estimated deaths in the 1931 China floods range between 2 million and 4 million, listed as the deadliest flood of all times, which is also the deadliest natural disasters of all times. The 1887 Yellow River flood ranked second in death toll in both flood and natural disaster, claiming lives of between 0.9 million to 2 million. The 1938 Yellow River flood was third, with 500,000–700,000 deaths.
The 1887 Yellow River flood was a devastating flood on the Yellow River ("Huang He") in China. This river is prone to flooding due to the elevated nature of the river, running between dikes above the broad plains surrounding it. The flood, which began in September 1887, killed about 900,000 people. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded.
The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 (or "Great Flood of 1993") occurred in the American Midwest, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from May to October 1993. The flood was among the most costly and devastating to ever occur in the United States, with $15 billion in damages. The hydrographic basin affected over around in length and in width, totaling about . Within this zone, the flooded area totaled around and was the worst such U.S. disaster since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, as measured by duration, area inundated, persons displaced, crop and property damage, and number of record river levels. In some categories, the 1993 flood even surpassed the 1927 flood, at the time the largest flood ever recorded on the Mississippi.
The flood occurred after record-setting rainfalls across the U.S. Midwest and Plains from May to August, 1851. The State of Iowa experienced significant flooding extending to the Lower Mississippi River basin. Historical evidence suggest flooding occurred in the eastern Plains, from Nebraska to the Red River basin, but these areas were sparsely settled in 1851. Heavy rainfall also occurred in the Ohio River basin. In June, major flooding on the Mississippi River was experienced.[4][5]
The May 1995 Louisiana flood, also known as the May 1995 Southeast Louisiana and Southern Mississippi Flood, was a heavy rainfall event which occurred across an area stretching from the New Orleans metropolitan area into southern Mississippi. A storm total rainfall maximum of was recorded near Necaise, Mississippi. Considerable flooding was caused by the rainfall including several record flood crests along impacted river systems.
The largest flood ever recorded on the Missouri River and Upper Mississippi River in terms of discharge. This flood was particularly devastating since the region had few if any levees at the time. Among the hardest hit were the Wyandot who lost 100 people in the diseases that occurred after the flood. The flood also is the highest recorded for the Mississippi River at St. Louis. After the flood, Congress in 1849 passed the Swamp Act providing land grants to build stronger levees.[6]
A series of unusually cold winters in the river basin concluded in the winter of 1972-1973, when high precipitation saturated much of the watershed, especially in the Ohio Valley and lower Mississippi Valley. This was followed by more rain in early 1973, with river flow cresting on March 31 at Red River Landing, Louisiana, and a heavy snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains which caused western tributaries such as the Missouri and Arkansas to form a final catastrophic high in June. The flood resulted in the largest volume of water to flow down the Mississippi since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. Both the Bonnet Carre Spillway and the Morganza Spillway were employed. The Bonnet Carre was fully opened between April 7 and June 14 for a record 75 days. The 1973 flood was the first time the Morganza Spillway was opened: from April 19 through June 13.
The Mississippi Flood of 1973 occurred between March and May 1973 on the lower Mississippi River.[5] The flood resulted in the largest volume of water to flow down the Mississippi since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. Both the Bonnet Carre Spillway and the Morganza Spillway were employed. The Bonnet Carre was fully opened between April 7 and June 14 for a record 75 days. The 1973 flood was the first time the Morganza Spillway was opened: from April 19 through June 13.
The Mississippi 1927 flood began when heavy rains pounded the central basin of the Mississippi in the summer of 1926. By September, the Mississippi's tributaries in Kansas and Iowa were swollen to capacity. On New Year's Day of 1927, the Cumberland River at Nashville topped levees at . The Mississippi River broke out of its levee system in 145 places and flooded or about . The area was inundated up to a depth of . The flood caused over $400 million in damages and killed 246 people in seven states. The flood affected Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. Arkansas was hardest hit, with 14% of its territory covered by floodwaters. By May 1927, the Mississippi River below Memphis, Tennessee, reached a width of .