Record Flooding Along Mississippi
Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 6:13AM Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Midwesterners are witnessing a slow-motion disaster that could break flood records dating to the 1920s, thousands of people from Illinois to Louisiana have already been forced from their homes, and anxiety is rising along with the mighty river, even though it could be a week or two before some of the most severe flooding hits.
"I've never seen it this bad," said 78-year-old Joe Harrison, who has lived in the same house in Hickman, KY since he was 11 months old.
Floodwaters turned his house into an island — dry but surrounded by water. He has been using a boat to get to his car, parked on dry ground along a highway that runs by his house.
Forecasters and emergency officials said some of the high-water records set during the great floods of 1927 and 1937 could fall. On Wednesday, for example, the Mississippi eclipsed the 46-foot mark set in 1937 in Caruthersville, Mo., and the water was still rising, with a crest of 49.5 feet forecast for Sunday.
Tom Salem, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Memphis, said flooding is extreme this year in part because of drenching rain over the past two weeks. In some areas, Wednesday was the first day without rain since April 25.
"It's been a massive amount of rain for a long period of time. And we're still getting snowmelt from Montana," Salem said.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday declared parts of Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky disasters, making the states eligible for federal help with relief efforts. It does not cover individual assistance.
