1fs. Floods in the Midwestern United StatesDuring the spring of 1993
residents of the Midwestern United States witnessed flooding on an
unprecedented scale. The Mississippi River, normally about 800 m (0.5
mi) wide near St. Joseph, Missouri, stretched out to as much as 10 km (6
mi), putting nearly half of St. Charles County under water. At Kansas
City, Missouri, the Missouri River rose 6.7 m (22 ft) above its banks.
Across the Midwest, tens of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed
by the flooding, as entire neighborhoods and 77 small towns ended up
under water.But what many would have thought would be a
once-in-a-lifetime event was repeated 15 years later, when another round
of extensive flooding soaked the Midwest in 2008. A series of heavy
rains hit the region in early June, including a few exceptionally strong
ones that brought more than 22 cm (9 in.) of rain in a 2-day period.
Gays Mills, Wisconsin, which had been inundated by flood waters from the
Kickapoo River for the second time in 10 months, was forced to consider
relocating the town on higher ground farther up the floodplain to avoid
similar events in the future.Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri
were beset by record-breaking floods from exceptionally heavy rain. But
no state was hit harder than Iowa, where 83 of its 99 counties were
declared disaster areas, more than 8 percent of the corn and soybean
acreage was under water, and damage was estimated at about $1.5 billion.
Many towns and cities fought rising water with sandbags, but often
unsuccessfully, as in Cedar Rapids. In contrast to the 1993 floods, the
2008 floods were the result of more intense rainfall events that
occurred over a shorter time period and had faster falling river levels
after the peak of the flooding.But the story doesn't end there. Major
flooding in the Mississippi River basin resumed in April 2011 and
carried into the summer of that year. The 2011 floods resulted from a
combination of factors. Heavy rains during the previous summer and
autumn saturated the soils, which were then unable to absorb melting
snow and additional rain that spring. By May 10 the Mississippi River
had reached its greatest extent of overbank flooding at Memphis,
Tennessee. Soon thereafter some flood-waters were purposely released
further downstream in order to prevent widescale flooding of Baton
Rouge, Louisiana.Though the Mississippi River had reached its maximum
stage by midspring, much of the north-central United States and the
provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba were subject to record flooding
owing to the same combination of snow-melt and an abundance of rain for
multiple months. One of the most dramatic flood events occurred in
Minot, North Dakota, when one quarter of the town had to be evacuated as
the Souris River topped its banks (Figure 7-4-1). In the end, 4100
homes ended up under water.FIGURE 7-4-1 Flood waters pour into sections
of Minot, ND, from the Souris River....In the United States, what years
have had major floods since the 1990s? Get solution
2fs. Floods in the Midwestern United StatesDuring the spring of 1993 residents of the Midwestern United States witnessed flooding on an unprecedented scale. The Mississippi River, normally about 800 m (0.5 mi) wide near St. Joseph, Missouri, stretched out to as much as 10 km (6 mi), putting nearly half of St. Charles County under water. At Kansas City, Missouri, the Missouri River rose 6.7 m (22 ft) above its banks. Across the Midwest, tens of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed by the flooding, as entire neighborhoods and 77 small towns ended up under water.But what many would have thought would be a once-in-a-lifetime event was repeated 15 years later, when another round of extensive flooding soaked the Midwest in 2008. A series of heavy rains hit the region in early June, including a few exceptionally strong ones that brought more than 22 cm (9 in.) of rain in a 2-day period. Gays Mills, Wisconsin, which had been inundated by flood waters from the Kickapoo River for the second time in 10 months, was forced to consider relocating the town on higher ground farther up the floodplain to avoid similar events in the future.Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri were beset by record-breaking floods from exceptionally heavy rain. But no state was hit harder than Iowa, where 83 of its 99 counties were declared disaster areas, more than 8 percent of the corn and soybean acreage was under water, and damage was estimated at about $1.5 billion. Many towns and cities fought rising water with sandbags, but often unsuccessfully, as in Cedar Rapids. In contrast to the 1993 floods, the 2008 floods were the result of more intense rainfall events that occurred over a shorter time period and had faster falling river levels after the peak of the flooding.But the story doesn't end there. Major flooding in the Mississippi River basin resumed in April 2011 and carried into the summer of that year. The 2011 floods resulted from a combination of factors. Heavy rains during the previous summer and autumn saturated the soils, which were then unable to absorb melting snow and additional rain that spring. By May 10 the Mississippi River had reached its greatest extent of overbank flooding at Memphis, Tennessee. Soon thereafter some flood-waters were purposely released further downstream in order to prevent widescale flooding of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.Though the Mississippi River had reached its maximum stage by midspring, much of the north-central United States and the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba were subject to record flooding owing to the same combination of snow-melt and an abundance of rain for multiple months. One of the most dramatic flood events occurred in Minot, North Dakota, when one quarter of the town had to be evacuated as the Souris River topped its banks (Figure 7-4-1). In the end, 4100 homes ended up under water.FIGURE 7-4-1 Flood waters pour into sections of Minot, ND, from the Souris River....What were the causes of the three major U.S. floods since the 1990s? Get solution
2fs. Floods in the Midwestern United StatesDuring the spring of 1993 residents of the Midwestern United States witnessed flooding on an unprecedented scale. The Mississippi River, normally about 800 m (0.5 mi) wide near St. Joseph, Missouri, stretched out to as much as 10 km (6 mi), putting nearly half of St. Charles County under water. At Kansas City, Missouri, the Missouri River rose 6.7 m (22 ft) above its banks. Across the Midwest, tens of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed by the flooding, as entire neighborhoods and 77 small towns ended up under water.But what many would have thought would be a once-in-a-lifetime event was repeated 15 years later, when another round of extensive flooding soaked the Midwest in 2008. A series of heavy rains hit the region in early June, including a few exceptionally strong ones that brought more than 22 cm (9 in.) of rain in a 2-day period. Gays Mills, Wisconsin, which had been inundated by flood waters from the Kickapoo River for the second time in 10 months, was forced to consider relocating the town on higher ground farther up the floodplain to avoid similar events in the future.Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri were beset by record-breaking floods from exceptionally heavy rain. But no state was hit harder than Iowa, where 83 of its 99 counties were declared disaster areas, more than 8 percent of the corn and soybean acreage was under water, and damage was estimated at about $1.5 billion. Many towns and cities fought rising water with sandbags, but often unsuccessfully, as in Cedar Rapids. In contrast to the 1993 floods, the 2008 floods were the result of more intense rainfall events that occurred over a shorter time period and had faster falling river levels after the peak of the flooding.But the story doesn't end there. Major flooding in the Mississippi River basin resumed in April 2011 and carried into the summer of that year. The 2011 floods resulted from a combination of factors. Heavy rains during the previous summer and autumn saturated the soils, which were then unable to absorb melting snow and additional rain that spring. By May 10 the Mississippi River had reached its greatest extent of overbank flooding at Memphis, Tennessee. Soon thereafter some flood-waters were purposely released further downstream in order to prevent widescale flooding of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.Though the Mississippi River had reached its maximum stage by midspring, much of the north-central United States and the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba were subject to record flooding owing to the same combination of snow-melt and an abundance of rain for multiple months. One of the most dramatic flood events occurred in Minot, North Dakota, when one quarter of the town had to be evacuated as the Souris River topped its banks (Figure 7-4-1). In the end, 4100 homes ended up under water.FIGURE 7-4-1 Flood waters pour into sections of Minot, ND, from the Souris River....What were the causes of the three major U.S. floods since the 1990s? Get solution
