Mississippi River overflows 11 levees

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Mississippi River ran over the top of a levee near Meyer, Illinois, bringing the total number of compromised levees to 11, said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday.

The river overtopped the levee at 1 a.m. CDT in the worst flooding in the Midwest in 15 years, said spokesman Ron Fournier.

The 11 levees from Saverton, Missouri, to Dubuque, Iowa, were protecting 68,000 acres, according to a map from the Army Corps.

Once the river flows over the levee, it usually erodes the levee from the other side, causing a breach.

There are another 15 levees in the Rock Island District that the Army Corps believes have a "high potential" for overtopping. Another seven levees have the "potential" for overtopping, according to the map.

"We basically have about three dozen levee systems we're concerned about overtopping as the river continues to rise," Fournier said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1346134820080618

[Kevin Cloyd]

1. agricultural drainage

I suspect that the vast increase in agricultural drainage has
exacerbated the flooding in the Midwest, here in Indiana every
little puddle in most farm fields has been tiled to drain off
standing water so crops can be planted in the low spot.  Quite
literally many thousands of miles of new farm tile have been
laid in the last few years here in north central Indiana and
I’m sure that similar drainage has been installed all across
the Corn Belt.  

These tiles allow water to reach streams and rivers much
faster than it did before.  I wonder if by draining every low
spot on high ground if we are losing more farm acres to
flooding in the low lands along streams and rivers.

[Arger68]

4. You are absolutely correct. With all that tile in the ground

the water runs off almost immediately making the flooding much worse. Also, the loss of wetlands that traditionally absorbed much of the flooding may be an even bigger cause.

[madrchsod]

5. you have an excellent observation

on the problem of tiling fields.

[enki23]

6. yes. however...

if those fields weren't tiled, their value as food-producing lands would be seriously decreased (if not removed entirely). that's not necessarily a problem, if we were to change our food consumption patterns worldwide (here, especially). but it might well be a problem in the not-too-distant future if we don't. and, of course, we won't. not till we have to. but by the time we have to, a good portion of the world will likely be going very hungry. perhaps the only question there is how long we can stave that off, but that's a question worth asking nonetheless.

and let's not diminish the effects of urban sprawl, while we're at it. pavement is even more efficient at channeling runoff than agricultural tile systems are.

[Kali]

11. roofs, pavement, then building more of the same in flood prone areas

[Kevin Cloyd]

14. ag drainage and micro-hydro power

By combining agricultural drainage with micro-hydro power we could slow the flow of water into streams and rivers and generate electrical power at the same time, but of course we’d lose some farm land to the holding ponds for the storage of the flood water.

[Phred42]

2. CAn we start spending our money on INFRASTRUCTURE NOW?!

:banghead:

[Ganja Ninja]

12. Spending money in America on Americans is pork according to

Republicans.

[Phred42]

13. Right! I forgot

[bdamomma]

16. this administration is just totally criminal.

they need to kicked to the curb, really.

[timtom]

21. WHAT f***ing money?

It's all been stolen by these f***ing thieves!!!!

(Sorry for yelling, but I am livid.)

[IcyPeas]

22. but first we have to rebuild... Iraq......

[Acadia Blue]

3. Are the Dems, Obama in particular, going to use this to show how

totally stupid spending money on foreign nation building is and what it is doing to our country?
I hope they sue everything, because the Mcinsane is going after Michelle the way the republican jackels went after Hillary when she was first lady.

[uppityperson]

7. k&r

[Ian David]

8. Other third-world countries don't maintain their infrastructure, either. n/t

[aquart]

9. Good point.

[mzmolly]

17. Don't worry, we still have running water.

:eyes:

[Ian David]

18. Running water for people... people running from water.... it's all good. n/t

[mzmolly]

19. Yes, and damn the ingrates who live along the river!

:crazy:

[Tashca]

10. I'm familiar with Meyer

There is a huge grain loading facility for barges and very few homes if any I can't remember for sure...
Many people call this the Warsaw bottoms. A very large amount of agricultural land here.
I don't remember how far north and south is goes....but I know it is up to 8 miles wide in places. They were wiped out in 93 too......
Mostly corn and wheat growing area.....not good soybean production here because it holds so much humidity in the bottoms.

[whistle]

15. Sounds like a domino effect the water has no place to go...no diversion channels

....no controlled containment so it just keeps moving and rushing down stream. Just where have the country's engineers been for the last forty years?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. They're now saying 20-30 more levees could fail

GULFPORT, Ill. - Floodwaters breached two levees in western Illinois on Wednesday, and the federal government warned that 20 to 30 more levees may overflow along the Mississippi River.

The breaches 45 miles south of Gulfport flooded farmland near the hamlet of Meyer and south of there in the Indian Graves levee district, Adams County Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Julie Shepard said.

Meyer, a town of 40 to 50 people, had to be evacuated, and authorities patrolled the town Wednesday morning to make sure no one was left behind, Shepard said.

Flooding at Meyer could swamp 30,000 acres — about 47 square miles — in the largely rural area, she said.

Officials monitored levees in other Mississippi River towns in Illinois and Missouri in hopes that they would hold.

Twenty levees have already overflowed this week, the Army Corps of Engineers said. The other levees could overflow if sandbagging efforts fail to raise the levees' levels.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080618/ap_on_re_us/midwest_flooding

If they do, that would bring the total up to 40 or 50 failed levees. It's unbelievable.

[Feron]

23. That's horrible.

I was hoping that all of the levees would hold. Hopefully the others will.

I wish the best for all of those dealing with the water right now.