Posts Tagged ‘MS River Flooding’
Blissful Ignorance vs Mistakes of Omission
“The biggest mistakes are mistakes of omission, not commission. It’s the things you knew enough to do — they were within your circle of competence — and you were sucking your thumb. Those are the ones that hurt.” — Warren Buffett, University of Georgia, 2001
Read MoreClogged Arteries and Rivers
Clogged arteries cause heart attacks. Clogged rivers cause floods. If plaque clogs your widowmaker artery and you don’t get a stent, you may have a serious heart attack. The Mississippi River is the country’s main transportation artery. It’s vital to our economy and national security. It is clogged with plaque. It needs a stent.
Read MoreWhy Won’t the Corps Remove the Mississippi’s Bottleneck?
The US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is in charge of flood control on the lower Mississippi River (1928 Flood Control Act). Congress gave it that job to prevent another disastrous 1927 flood. The Corps has spent billions on its Mississippi Rivers and Tributaries Project (MRTP). It is supposed to keep the largest future flood (Project Flood) inside the levees and pass it safely to the Gulf. But the Corps’ 2019 flow line study predicts levees will overtop again — in a lesser flood.
Read MoreCliff Notes for Corps Speak
Cliff Notes began as short plot summaries of classic novels and stories. Now they are cribs about complex topics and spin. Corps Speak is the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) clever spin that evades responsibility for higher and longer Mississippi River floods (a complex topic). This story began when Congress put the Corps in charge of flood control (1928 Flood Control Act) to prevent another 1927 flood disaster.
Read MoreEinstein Was Wrong
Not Albert, his son Hans. As far as we know, Albert was right about his General Theory of Relativity and other natural laws. Hans was not as famous as his father. But he was the world expert on river sediments. He advised the Corps of Engineers (Corps) on the design of the Old River Control Complex (ORCC) in the 1950s.
Read MoreYazoo Delta Backwater Flooding
Backwater flooding happens when the Mississippi River is higher (about 43’ at Vicksburg) than the Yazoo River and blocks its discharge. It takes less rain to raise and keep the Mississippi above 43’ than it used to. (See More Flood for Less Rain.) So backwater flooding and batture flooding inside the levees are more frequent and longer — over three times longer since 2015. Why? What happened to cause a step change in flooding in 2015?
Read MoreMore Flood for Less Rain
I don’t know who said it first, but the Mississippi River is flooding more often, longer, and higher for the same or less rain. There are many reasons for this. But the main one is the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). It is in charge of flood control on the lower Mississippi River (below Cairo, Illinois). Congress gave it that job after the great 1927 flood disaster — to prevent a repeat.
Read MoreWistful Not Thinking
The Mississippi River is going to change course (avulse) to the Atchafalaya at the Old River Control Complex (ORCC) above Baton Rouge and discharge to the Gulf near Morgan City, LA. Gravity will send it down this shorter, steeper path in a big flood — maybe the next one. Course changes happen about every 1,000 years when the channel clogs up with silt, flow slows, and floods get higher. The last one happened around the 12th century.
Read MoreCut To the Chase
The Corps Old River Control Complex (ORCC) near Louisiana’s Angola Prison just south of the Mississippi line makes flooding worse inside the levees. The flooding affects about a half million acres in Mississippi and Louisiana owned by over 500 plaintiffs who sued the Corps in 2019 for taking their properties. I’m one of those plaintiffs. I quit writing about floods when I became one. I’m starting again. I can’t wait on the courts.
Read MoreStuck in the Mud on the Mighty Mississippi
Barge shipping on the river, vital to the U.S. economy and especially for midwestern farmers, is grinding to slow motion. Extra costs are growing by the hour. The result will be an inflationary bump to food prices and probably other goods.
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