And We Think We Have Flood Problems!

[denjac]

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x58990739/Corps-preps-for-levee-blast-as-legal-tussle-looms

[ollie]

I would not want to be in the Major's shoes on that issue! I can see the importance from both sides of the issue and it is a catch 22 for either desision that will be made. Man and his infinete wisdom cannot cantain the mighty Miss!

[flytyer57]

All I can say is; "GET OFF THE FLOOD PLAIN!!!!"

[Al Agnew]

Maybe someday we'll wise up and really will get off the flood plains. The problem with levees and dams is that, as we've been finding out the last few years, there will always be either new record high floods that overtop or put un-designed-for stress on them, or there is always a chance of failure. And the more levees we build, as is the case here, the higher the floods get because the rivers are confined within the levees instead of spreading out over the flood plain.

I believe the Birds Point levee and floodway have been a bone of contention for quite a while. This is not the first time it has been proposed to breach the levee and let the river run loose through its former floodway there. Just like the levee and floodwall protected parts of Cairo, the problem is that these areas have been allowed to be developed, and now the choice is either to pay money to buy out the people who live or grow crops there, or pay (through federal flood insurance) periodically to set them right after a flood happens. In the long run, buying them out would probably be cheaper. In this case, nobody is right. The choice is between protecting farmland that would otherwise be susceptible to flooding, or protecting homes that would be susceptible to flooding. Taxpayers spent money to build the levees that protect both, and now taxpayers will foot the bill to protect one and insure the other. Stupid.

I found it a little strange that the farmers said it would take a generation to remove the silt. That silt is what made their farmland fertile in the first place, and adding silt should really help fertility now. The silt isn't the problem for them, the problem is the scouring at the levee breaches and probably in channels through their fields.

Don't even get me started on the Chesterfield/Earth City levees near St. Louis. We watched that area be wiped out in 1993, and while there was talk of letting it go back to floodplain afterwards, instead the levees were built higher and development behind them went nuts. At some point those levees will fail again, and then it will cost taxpayers untold billions when all that development gets wiped out.

[oneshot]

What always got me is we would be sandbagging the levees on the Missouri have water backing up the Creeks coming in behind us.Didn't make sence and very unnerving.

I'm thinking I would rather contend with a controlled Flooding over one in the middle of the night.I know from the Flood of '93 the main problem on some land was the amount of sand which could be several feet thick.

oneshot

[joeD]

Valley Park built a levee. The Meramec is above flood stage there. I live in Fenton. Guess where the water is going to go? They say 141 and 44 will be closed today. Water always, always, finds a path.

On a separate, but similar note, over 200 people have died due to the historic tornado outbreak in the south. In this day and age, it seems like someone somewhere would come up with a way to build basements in that southern soil.

As usual, mother nature and money (lack of, because of, bottom line of) win.

[ollie]

Well it's official. The judge has made his ruling- good or bad I just don't know.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_weather_floods_missouri

[Tim Smith]

I'm thinking I would rather contend with a controlled Flooding over one in the middle of the night.I know from the Flood of '93 the main problem on some land was the amount of sand which could be several feet thick.

oneshot

I found it a little strange that the farmers said it would take a generation to remove the silt. That silt is what made their farmland fertile in the first place, and adding silt should really help fertility now. The silt isn't the problem for them, the problem is the scouring at the levee breaches and probably in channels through their fields.

I think Oneshot is right about the specific problems here.

On average the silt from flooding adds to soil fertility. If you happen to get sand instead of silt in your particular spot...you're screwed.

[mic]

I think Oneshot is right about the specific problems here.

On average the silt from flooding adds to soil fertility. If you happen to get sand instead of silt in your particular spot...you're screwed.

That all depends... Back home in the Missouri at the big flood in 93 (I think), there were acres of land with 20 plus feet of river sand. Not all "silt" is good.