Mississippi Great Flood 1993.

Background Information:
Mississippi River is around 320,000 square miles. More editing here…
What caused the flood?

It has been suggested that the flood was caused by heavy precipitation
earlier in the year. The flood plains of the Mississippi had also been
reduced to make space for agriculture and livelihood. Another feature
which contributed to this devastation is storms and hurricanes which were
frequent and in great amounts.

Costs and damage

Some locations on the Mississippi River flooded for almost 200 days while
locations on the Missouri neared 100 days of flooding. On the Mississippi,
Grafton, Illinois, recorded flooding for 195 days, Clarksville, Missouri, for
187 days, Winfield, Missouri, for 183 days, Hannibal, Missouri, for 174
days, and Quincy, Illinois, for 152 days. The Missouri River was above flood
stage for 62 days in Jefferson City, Missouri, 77 days at Hermann, Missouri;
and for 94 days at St. Charles in the St. Louis metropolitan area. On
October 7, 103 days after it began, the Mississippi River at St. Louis finally
dropped below flood stage. Approximately 10,000 homes were destroyed
as a result of the flooding, with 15 million acres (60,000 km²) of farmland
inundated, and the whole towns of Valmeyer, Illinois and Rhineland,
Missouri were relocated to higher ground.[1] The floods cost thirty two lives
officially; however, a more likely target is suspected to be around fifty
people, as well as an estimated 15-20 billion dollars in damages.[citation needed]

Comparison to other big floods

USGS exhibit showing flood levels at Westport Landing on the Missouri
River in Kansas City. The flood heights on the exhibit from top to bottom
are 1993, 1844 and 1951. ASB Bridge in background

Channeling and levee construction have altered how the floods have hit
various areas along the Missouri River. Here's a comparison of the three
big floods since the early 1800s.

• Great Flood of 1844 - This was the

biggest flood of the three in terms of rate
of discharge at Westport Landing in
Kansas City. It is estimated that 625,000
cubic feet per second (17,700 m³/s) was
discharged in the flood. However the
crest on July 16, 1844, was almost a foot
(0.3 m) lower than the 1993 flood.
• Great Flood of 1951 - The 1951 flood was
the second biggest in terms of rate of
discharge at 573,000 ft³/s (16,200 m³/s).
The 1951 crest on July 14, 1951, was
almost two feet (0.6 m) lower than the
1844 flood and three feet (1 m) lower
than 1993. However, the flood was the
most devastating of all modern floods for
Kansas City since its levee system was
not built to withstand it. It destroyed the
Kansas City Stockyards and caused
Kansas City to build Kansas City
International Airport away from the
Missouri River bottoms to replace the
heavily damaged Fairfax Airport in Kansas
City, Kansas.
• Great Flood of 1993 - The 1993 flood was
the highest of any of the three but had
the lowest discharge at 541,000 ft³/s
(15,300 m³/s). While the 1993 flood had
devastating impacts elsewhere, Kansas
City survived it relatively well because of
levee improvements after the 1951 flood.

What the USA have done to reduce floods and flood damages:

The Americans have built many levees and many flood defences but they
did not have any impact on the flood. Many people were confused about
why the floods were so disastrous and deadly. Flood defences have failed
before but not at this rate.

The danger of preventing floods:

People have tried to prevent floods before but they have seen a deadly
outcome. Instead of the water flooding and spreading over land, the flood
defences have made pressure and therefore it lead to a mass of water
travelling at high speeds spreading over land at fast rates.

Map of Mississippi River.