News from the Columbia Climate School

Ohio and Mississippi River Floods in Photos

May 12, 2011

Heavy rains over the American South and Midwest have deluged the region, causing unprecedented flood damage. Here are some photos of the event from around the web.

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After days of rain and rising water, on Monday May 2, 2011, Army Corps of Engineers’ Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh gave orders to blow a two-mile long hole in the Birds Point Levee to save the town of Cairo, Illinois. Source: Army Corps of Engineers

Floodwater rushes over the Birds Point levee near Wyatt Missouri after the explosion. Source: Army Corps of Engineers.

A farmhouse covered after the levee was blown. Source: Food Freedom.

Even as floodwaters around Cairo receded, water rose downriver on the Mississippi, threatening Memphis, Tennessee. A satellite image shows the city before the flood arrives. Source: NASA

After the flood in Memphis. Source: NASA

A woman recovers supplies after the flood. Source: Blippitt.

Adults and children look on floodwaters. Source: Blippitt.

A plot of the heaving floods in the Ohio region. Even many lower Mississippi floods have their origins in heavy precipitation along the Ohio River. Columbia scientists are studying this region as part of the Columbia Global Flood Initiative in hopes of generating better flood predictions and more useful flood risk management tools. Source: NOAA.

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