The Great Flood of '93

 

GREAT FLOOD OF '93

        This was, obviously, before I was born, but it was so huge that people still tell stories about it. This flood took place along the Missisippi river, and affected several states along the Mississippi River, But Iowa and Missouri accumulated the most damage. Reports of the flood began to come in on Friday night, at about 10:30. such as The Missisippi River crested at 49.58 feet, the highest ever recorded thus far and 20 feet above flood stage.

        According to weather reports, a wet fall in 1992 caused increased water levels in the soil and reservoir basins. Additionally, there were unusual patterns of increased rainfall. In the spring months leading up to the flood. In the month of June, there were more and more reports of levees being overtopped/ breaking. Precipitation for the month was heavy averaged one inch above mormal for the month of July, as well-- some states endured over 20 days of rain. Also, the river was saturated from snowmelt at the summer's start, and there was no "buffer" against the rainfall that did take place. Floodwarnings began to be issued.

        When finally the river overflowed, it was catastrophic. At record breaking flow
of 1 million cubic feet per second, there were $12B in damages, 50 dead, and 20 million acres of land flooded. It was also devestating to farmland, business, homes, infrastructure, etc. After this, the government went to work in collecting data, and employing the help of FEMA to protect homes from damage and hopefully use data patterns to predict another event like this. Government response cost was $4.2 billion, with $1.1 billion spent on responses. On the 7th of October, Missisippi River levels finally returned to normal. 

https://sites.wustl.edu/monh/the-great-flood-of-1993/

https://www.weather.gov/lsx/1993_flood

https://www.westnewsmagazine.com/lifestyles/remembering-the-flood-of-93/article_43027f08-3158-11ee-bf6f-27a5a4e9433a.html