Many anxious residents of Memphis are leaving their homes as the swollen Mississippi River is threatening to crest in the next few days just below the 48.7 foot record of the terrible flooding that occurred there back in 1937.
Record high water levels are poised to be smashed in some areas as the river threatens flood-prone areas of Memphis on down through the Mississippi Delta and into Louisiana’s farm country. By Tuesday, the river is expected to rise to 48 feet in Memphis. The police department in the city has ordered thousands of residents out of their homes and other types of residential facilities. The waters are also threatening three nuclear reactors which are expected to be shut down as a precaution.
The Mississippi was reaching crest stage Sunday in the Memphis area and the National Weather Service put the entire Shelby County under a flood warning. Those people living inside the flood plain should be packed up and ready to leave if they haven’t left already. Things will be getting worse through the rest of the week as many neighborhoods in Memphis could flood due to water rising through storm drains. The National Weather Service reported Sunday that the river is set to crest late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. The service is also saying that the river may very well remain above flood stage in Memphis into the month of June.
Rains falling on Saturday made people in Memphis more nervous and the new rainfall was enough to send many packing and calling the city bus for a way out. The new rain was not expected to add to the flood levels but this fact still didn’t stop people from leaving. The Memphis bus service has reported that it is receiving a high level of calls as reality is setting in for many residents of the city.
The US Congress has made protecting towns and cities on the lower Mississippi a priority since the Great Flood of 1927 that killed hundreds of people. Over $13 billion has been spent by the Army Corps of Engineers toward the building of flood walls and over-flow ponds. Over four million people live in a total of 63 counties along the Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois south to the Gulf of Mexico.
