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N0KFQ > TODAY 31.03.14 18:05l 41 Lines 1692 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 16625_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Mar 31
Path: IZ3LSV<F1OYP<F1OYP<PI8SNK<N0KFQ
Sent: 140331/1600Z 16625@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.58
Mar 31, 1973:
Mississippi River reaches peak flood level
The Mississippi River reaches its peak level in St. Louis during
a record 77-day flood. During the extended flood, 33 people died
and more than $1 billion in damages were incurred.
The roots of the 1973 flood go back to October 1972, when
above-average rain began falling in the river basins that feed
the Mississippi River. With more precipitation than normal coming
down through the winter, the stage was set for flooding when hard
rain came down in March. With most of the Midwest already
saturated, the Mississippi began rising slowly to flood levels.
By the middle of March, flood waters began inundating some
communities along the Mississippi. The worst of it came in early
April when 6 million acres south of St. Louis, Missouri, were
claimed by the river and many levees crumbled and failed.
As they moved downstream, the rising waters threatened the city
of New Orleans. Officials decided to divert some of the water to
Lake Ponchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico. This ended the threat
to New Orleans, but came at the expense of hundreds of farms in
the area. In some areas, the floods continued until June.
Floods of this type are not typically as deadly as flash floods
because there is sufficient warning and time to evacuate flood
regions. Those who died in this instance were largely residents
who had resisted evacuation orders. Still, the flood devastated
the economy of the region, as very few families had flood
insurance and millions of acres of farm land were unusable for a
full year following the flood.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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