Mississippi River crests in flood-hit Memphis
Source: Agencies |
May 11, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Mississippi River crested in Memphis, Tennessee, yesterday at a height just inches short of the area's all-time record but still soaking low-lying areas with enough water to require a massive cleanup.
The soaking in Memphis was isolated to low-lying neighborhoods, and forced hundreds of people from their homes, but no new serious flooding was expected. Officials trusted the levees would hold and protect the city's world-famous musical landmarks, from Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion to Beale Street, the famous thoroughfare known for blues music.
The United States National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Borghoff says the river reached 14.58 meters at 2am yesterday and was expected to stay very close to that level for the next 24 to 36 hours. Reaching its high point means things shouldn't get worse in the area, but it will take weeks for the water to recede and much longer for inundated areas to recover. "Pretty much the damage has been done."
The crest is just shy of the record of 14.8 meters at Memphis reached during a devastating 1937 flood.
To the south, residents in the Mississippi Delta prepared for the worst. Farmers downriver built homemade levees to protect their crops and engineers diverted water into a lake to ease the pressure on New Orleans levees.
The Mississippi River has broken high-water records upstream and inundated low-lying towns and farmland because of heavy rain over the past few weeks and melting snow.
The soaking in Memphis was isolated to low-lying neighborhoods, and forced hundreds of people from their homes, but no new serious flooding was expected. Officials trusted the levees would hold and protect the city's world-famous musical landmarks, from Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion to Beale Street, the famous thoroughfare known for blues music.
The United States National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Borghoff says the river reached 14.58 meters at 2am yesterday and was expected to stay very close to that level for the next 24 to 36 hours. Reaching its high point means things shouldn't get worse in the area, but it will take weeks for the water to recede and much longer for inundated areas to recover. "Pretty much the damage has been done."
The crest is just shy of the record of 14.8 meters at Memphis reached during a devastating 1937 flood.
To the south, residents in the Mississippi Delta prepared for the worst. Farmers downriver built homemade levees to protect their crops and engineers diverted water into a lake to ease the pressure on New Orleans levees.
The Mississippi River has broken high-water records upstream and inundated low-lying towns and farmland because of heavy rain over the past few weeks and melting snow.
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