The Worst Flood In US History
And how it changed the Deep South
In 1926, elevated amounts of rainfall were detected throughout the central United States. Additional rain over the course of the year began to swell major tributaries of the Mighty Mississippi above their banks. The Cumberland River in Tennessee recorded heights exceeding 50 feet around Christmas in 1926. Soon, all of that water would start to make its way toward the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico resulting in the most destructive flood in United States History.
By the time 1927 came around the Mississippi River was rising dramatically. Despite efforts in previous years to control the river, deepen the channel and build levees to reduce the risk of flooding the US authorities were not prepared for what happened next. In the early months of 1927, a wall of water rushed down the Mississippi, being fed by swollen tributaries, and absolutely crushed the lower portions of the river.
Levees broke in 145 places and the water rapidly swelled out of its banks. The river was out of control. In just a couple of months thousands of square miles of agricultural land in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas were completely inundated by water.
