Self-Made Levies Withstand Ever Rising Mississippi Waters

May 19 2011           Jump To Discussion

NEW ORLEANS – Over the last month the Mississippi river has risen to as much as 35 feet in some places, flooding everything in sight.

Yet man-made structures by ordinary folks, proof to be a stronghold against the mighty Mississippi waters. With the talents of a seasoned excavator, farmers set out to protect their properties from being swallowed up by the river by building enormous levies around their homes.

Even the make-shift levies put together by engineers and town’s people did not withstand the Mississippi’s relentless waters pushing up against the sand as did these impressive “home-made” creations.

But not every farmer was as successful in putting up sand and dirt levies around their home and despite their best efforts waters seeped in through the dam, slowly filling up the inside.

Throughout the town of Vicksburg, one of the areas most effected by the Mississippi, giant walls of sand bags are put in place to protect areas from being flooded over.

Despite all the work and best efforts, for some parts of Vicksburg, the dam-building efforts are in vain and entire regions are put under water. In some area, the water level reached more than six feet high.

The army has begun opening floodgates to disperse some of the water in the hopes of preventing possibly flooding of the cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

It has only been five years since New Orleans was taken over by flood waters when the levies broke, leaving thousands of residents stranded and thousands of properties under water.

Five years later rebuilding efforts have barely begun.

 

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