On this date in 1927, the headline of the New Orleans Times Picayune screamed the words of Mississippi Governor Dennis Murphree: “For God’s Sake, Send Us Boats” as the Mississippi River raged out of control in the Magnolia State. Nearly 200,000 people in the Mississippi Delta were forced from their homes by floodwaters from a levee break at Mounds Landing. The waters covered an area fifty miles wide and one hundred miles long. That is one million acres to a depth or up to twenty feet!
The Mississippi River Flood of 1927 would be one of the most devastating to hit the United States. Hundreds of people were killed and 500,000 were homeless. The disaster came before extensive flood control measures were in place on the mighty Mississippi River. All through the fall of 1926, rainfall over the Mississippi Valley was above normal, so the river was high when the annual spring floods began. Then heavy rains of up to nine inches over Missouri and Arkansas combined with melting snows to swell the Mississippi to record levels. The result was 120 breaks through levees on the Big Muddy and its tributaries.
The town of Greenville MS was nearly destroyed by the crevasse at Mounds Landing. Over 13,000 African American refugees crowded the only high ground in the county, the remaining levee near Greenville. Without food, safe water, and shelter, outbreak of disease was inevitable. But local leaders refused to evacuate the refugees, fearing that they would leave the area and remove a large part of the labor pool that the cotton industry depended upon. A sickening display of power and greed.
A total of 260,000 acres of land was flooded in seven states. 600,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes across the nation. The river was eighty miles wide in some places. The Flood Control Act of 1928 resulted from the horrendous disaster and led to vastly superior flood control through reservoirs and levees.
But can man control the mighty Mississip? The jury is still out.
The Mississippi River Flood of 1927 would be one of the most devastating to hit the United States. Hundreds of people were killed and 500,000 were homeless. The disaster came before extensive flood control measures were in place on the mighty Mississippi River. All through the fall of 1926, rainfall over the Mississippi Valley was above normal, so the river was high when the annual spring floods began. Then heavy rains of up to nine inches over Missouri and Arkansas combined with melting snows to swell the Mississippi to record levels. The result was 120 breaks through levees on the Big Muddy and its tributaries.
The town of Greenville MS was nearly destroyed by the crevasse at Mounds Landing. Over 13,000 African American refugees crowded the only high ground in the county, the remaining levee near Greenville. Without food, safe water, and shelter, outbreak of disease was inevitable. But local leaders refused to evacuate the refugees, fearing that they would leave the area and remove a large part of the labor pool that the cotton industry depended upon. A sickening display of power and greed.
A total of 260,000 acres of land was flooded in seven states. 600,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes across the nation. The river was eighty miles wide in some places. The Flood Control Act of 1928 resulted from the horrendous disaster and led to vastly superior flood control through reservoirs and levees.
But can man control the mighty Mississip? The jury is still out.