The Mississippi River is expected to reach its high water mark today. For the Mid-South, the unusual winter flood has provided more spectacle than threat.
“I’m seeing a very wide expanse of water,” said Annette Brown-Forbes as she visited the Harbor Town Neighborhood on Mud Island this week to look at a flooded riverfront park. “A few days ago, I could walk all the way out there and now I’m standing right on the edge of the Mississippi. This is crazy!”
Not quite as crazy as the spring flood of 2011, when the Mississippi rose nearly 8-feet higher than today’s predicted crest of about 40 feet.
That widespread flooding caused nearly $12 million damage in Shelby County alone. More than 1,300 homes were evacuated.
Though no damage or injuries were reported by Thursday evening, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency maintained a Level-4 monitoring of the flood, one grade above normal operations.
David Purkey, assistant commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Safety and the governor's Homeland Security Advisor, explained the caution.
“We tend in this business to over-prepare,” Purkey said. “And if you’re not overpreparing, you’re not doing your job. Because you plan for the worst and hope for the best.”
Meanwhile, a close eye is being kept on the levees and pumping stations that keep much of this region on both sides of the river from going underwater. Shane Callahan is with the Army Corps of Engineers.
“They are looking for any seepage or water emerging landside of the levee or flood wall,” said Shane Callahan with the Army Corps of Engineers.
Callahan says that when the waters recede, repairs will need to be made before spring, when the Mississippi River normally floods.
But before that can happen, Callahan adds, “Congress still has to authorize and fund those repairs.”
