Flooding

A flood is the temporary overflow of a river onto adjacent lands that are not normally covered by water.

Flooding occurs for many reasons. For example, when a region receives higher than normal precipitation, when an individual storm large volumes of precipitation fall during individual storms, or when the ground becomes saturated. Flooding has increased in some locations after wetlands have been drained and levees constructed in a river system.

Mississippi River floods occur at the average rate of one every 2.8 years. Most of them are considered serious. That is, they are capable of producing severe damage unless they are controlled.

The flood control system for the Upper Mississippi is made up of flood control reservoirs, urban levees/floodwalls, and agricultural levees.

The Mississippi River has about 60 Federal reservoirs and a total of 1,600 levees (both urban and agricultural). Only 5% of the levees are urban; 95% are agricultural.

Flooding Pictures