Winter Flooding in Mississippi and Louisiana

Persistent heavy rains in the first two months of 2020 have swelled rivers from Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico.

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Flooding on the Lower Mississippi Continues

Much of the Lower Mississippi River was flooded in March.

Water Floods Remote Sensing

Winter Flooding on the Mississippi

Persistent rains and saturated soils across the watershed swelled the river to its banks and occasionally onto floodplains.

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The Mississippi and Missouri are Badly Swollen

At least 200 gauges along the waterways of the Central United States reported some level of flooding.

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Flooding in Memphis

Acquired May 10, 2011, and April 21, 2010, these natural-color images show flooded and normal conditions along the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee.

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Unseasonable Flooding on the Mississippi River

Parts of the Mississippi are swollen and spilling over its banks due to late December rains that are now flowing downstream.

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Taming the Mississippi River

Engineers use levees, floodways, dams, and much more to control the ever restless Mississippi.

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Floods in the U.S. Midwest

Floods

Lay of the Land Between Old River and the Mississippi

This model of the land elevation between the Mississippi, the Atchafalaya, and the Old River show the uphill fight to control river flow.

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Low Water on the Mississippi Causes Barge Backup

The drought of 2012 reduced traffic to one towboat at a time; groundings closed parts of the river for hours to days.

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Lower Mississippi River Remains Swollen

Acquired June 1, 2011, and May 28, 2010, these false-color images compare conditions along the Lower Mississippi River.

Land Floods

Morganza Floodway, 1973

Observations by Landsat 1 from 1973 show the Morganza Floodway after its first and only opening in 57 years.

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Flooding in the Central and Southern U.S.

In late February 2018, heavy rains gave rise to damaging floods along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

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Lingering Floodwaters near Vicksburg, Mississippi

These false-color images compare conditions along the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers around Vicksburg in June 2011, during heavy flooding, and three years earlier.

Land Floods

Great Flood of the Mississippi River, 1993

During the first half of 1993, the U.S. Midwest experienced unusually heavy rains. Much of the United States in the upper reaches of the Mississippi River drainage basin received more than 1.5 times their average rainfall in the first six months of the year, and parts of North Dakota, Iowa, and Kansas experienced more than double. The rains often arrived in very intense storms. Floods overwhelmed the elaborate system of dykes and other water control structures in the Mississippi River basin, leading to the greatest flood ever recorded on the Upper Mississippi. In St. Louis, the Mississippi remained above flood stage for 144 days between April 1 and September 30, 1993.

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