Southern US Cities Brace for Historic Flooding
VOA News May 11, 2011
Floodwaters along the Mississippi River are moving south Wednesday, with some areas in the southern U.S. bracing for record flooding in the coming days.
Thousands of residents in several states have evacuated their homes along the river and its tributaries as flooding - triggered by rain and melting snow - has reached levels not seen in decades.
National Weather Service spokesman Ron Trumbla said forecasters are especially watching the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, where the water level is expected to hit 17.5 meters next week, surpassing a record set during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
Trumbla said Vicksburg is a bigger city now, so more people could be in harm's way there.
Throughout the region, authorities worked to reinforce levees, while farmers built their own in an effort to protect their crops.
The river crested Tuesday in Memphis, the largest city in the state of Tennessee. The crest reached 14.6 meters, just short of its all-time record (14.8 meters) more than 70 years ago.
The Associated Press says the damage in Memphis was estimated at more than $320 million as the serious flooding began, but an official figure will not be available until the waters recede.
President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in Tennessee on Monday, ordering federal aid to help state and local recovery efforts in the area. The state was also struck by severe storms and tornadoes last month.
The president has also signed emergency or disaster declarations for other states hit by flooding and bad weather, including Louisiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and Mississippi.
In Louisiana, authorities opened a spillway in an effort to lower river levels in the city of New Orleans, which was inundated with floods after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The Mississippi River is North America's largest river system. The river spans more than 3,700 kilometers from the northern United States down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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