The Worst Mississippi River Flood Ever?

Please pray for those living along the Mississippi River.  They are going to need it.  The tornadoes that just ripped through the southeast U.S. are being called one of the worst natural disasters in American history, and now the flooding along the Mississippi River may top the damage done by those tornadoes.  In fact, some are now projecting that this will be the worst Mississippi River flood ever recorded since the United States became a nation.  You don't believe that?  Well, Bob Anderson, an Army Corps of Engineers spokesman based in Vicksburg, Mississippi says that there has "never been a flood of this magnitude on the upper Mississippi".  And you know what they say - "never" is a really, really long time.  Hopefully everyone in the region has really good flood insurance.  The flood that this is being compared to is the great 1937 Mississippi River flood.  That flood was so nightmarish that it changed the whole way that the U.S. government approaches floods, but now this flood is surpassing the record levels set back in 1937 in many areas.  This truly is a historic flood.

This is not a disaster that happens over one or two days and then is over.  This disaster is going to literally take weeks to unfold.  Residents of 8 states are bracing for the worst.

Many are rapidly filling sandbags and are trying to keep the flood waters at bay.  Others are packing up and getting ready to evacuate.

The flood is so massive that it actually has caused some of the tributaries along the Mississippi River to actually start flowing backwards.

So how long is this flooding going to last?

At this point, the Mississippi River is expected to crest at 48 feet around May 11th.

But this disaster will last much longer than that.

Authorities are saying that the Mississippi River could stay at flood stage for more than a month.

The economic damage, the property damage and the loss of crops is going to be incalculable.

It is important to understand that this is just not another flood.  This is literally a history changing nightmare.

Just check out this quote from Gene Rench of the National Weather Service....

"Right now the Mississippi river is in the process of going through what we call an epic flood, meaning it's more than historic, it's more than a 100 year flood, it's more like a 500 year flood."

A "500 year flood"?

That is some pretty strong language.

Part of the problem is that the Ohio River and the Mississippi River are both flooding at the same time.  In a recent article on CNN, local farmer Bob Byrne described the damage and noted that this is the first time he has ever seen both of those mighty rivers flood at the same time....

"We've seen the Ohio River rampage, water right up to the top of the levee. We've seen this one (Mississippi) on the rampage, but never the two together."

Byrne also said that the loss of wheat crops that he has already suffered comes to about $40,000.

Sadly, this flooding is going to cost the region billions upon billions of dollars.

But didn't we just see another disaster that is going to cost billions upon billions of dollars?

Yes we did.

The "tornadoes of 2011" absolutely destroyed big chunks of the southeast United States.

There was one mile-wide tornado with winds over 200 MPH that basically ripped Tuscaloosa, Alabama to shreds.  There are parts of Tuscaloosa that look like they have been through a nuclear war.

What in the world is going on?

In just one 24 hour period last week, there were a whopping 226 active tornadoes in the United States.

Overall, there were approximately 600 tornadoes in the United States during April.  That is the most tornadoes that have ever been recorded in a single month in all of American history.

Usually, there are only about 1,200 tornadoes in the U.S. during an entire year.

Meanwhile, the state of Texas is being ravaged by drought and wildfires.  So far the wildfires down in Texas have scorched more than 2 million acres.

Why is all of this happening to us?

Could it be just a coincidence that so many "historic" natural disasters are happening all at once or is something else going on here?

Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts below, and please remember to pray for the millions of Americans that are suffering through these disasters right now.