Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
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- This article is about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. For the Mississippi Flood of 1993, see Great Flood of 1993.'
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in United States history.
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[edit] Events
The flood began when heavy rains pounded the central basin of the Mississippi in the summer of 1926. By September, the Mississippi's tributaries in Kansas and Iowa were swollen to capacity. On New Year's day of 1927, the Cumberland River at Nashville topped levees at 56.2 feet (17 m).
The Mississippi River broke out of its levee system in 145 places and flooded 27,000 square miles or about 16,570,627 acres (70,000 km²). The area was inundated up to a depth of 30 feet (10 m). The flood caused over $400 million in damages and killed 246 people in seven states.
[edit] Affected areas
The flood affected Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Arkansas was hardest hit, with 14% of its territory covered by floodwaters. By May of 1927 the Mississippi River below Memphis, Tennessee reached a width of 100 km (60 mi).
[edit] Attempts at relief
As the flood approached New Orleans, Louisiana, 30 tons of dynamite were set off on the levee at Caernarvon, Louisiana and sent 7,000 m³/s (250,000 ft³/s) of water pouring through. This prevented New Orleans from experiencing serious damage, but flooded much of St. Bernard Parish and all of Plaquemines Parish's east bank. As it turned out, the destruction of the Caernarvon levee was unnecessary; several major levee breaks well upstream of New Orleans, including one the day after the demolitions, made it impossible for flood waters to seriously to threaten the city. There is some belief that the purpose the levee explosion was to save the wealthier parts of the city by directing the flow of water to the more blighted communities.
[edit] Abatement
By August 1927, the flood subsided. During the disaster, 700,000 people were displaced, including 330,000 African-Americans who were moved to 154 relief camps. Over 13,000 evacuees near Greenville, Mississippi were gathered from area farms and evacuated to the crest of an unbroken levee, and stranded there for days without food or clean water, while boats arrived to evacuate white women and children. Many blacks were detained and forced to labor at gunpoint during flood relief efforts.
[edit] Political effects
Several reports on the terrible situation in the refugee camps, including one by the Colored Advisory Commission by Robert Russa Moton, were kept out of the media at the request of Herbert Hoover, with the promise of further reforms for blacks after the presidential election. When he failed to keep the promise, Moton and other influential African-Americans helped to shift the allegiance of black Americans from the Republican party to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democrats.
The aftermath of the flood was one factor in the Great Migration of African-Americans to northern cities. Previously, the move from the rural South to the Northern cities had virtually stopped. As a result of displacement lasting up to six months, millions of Southern blacks moved to the big cities of the North, particularly Chicago.
The flood propelled Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who was in charge of flood relief operations, into the national spotlight and set the stage for his election to the Presidency. It also helped Huey Long be elected Louisiana Governor in 1928.
The flood had the unlikely effect of contributing to both the election of Herbert Hoover as President, and his defeat four years later. He was much lauded for his masterful handling of the refugee camps, but later concerns over the treatment of blacks in those camps caused him to make promises to the African-American community which he later broke, losing the black vote in his re-election campaign.
The flood resulted in a great cultural output as well, inspiring a great deal of folklore and folk music. Charlie Patton, Bessie Smith and many other Delta blues musicians wrote numerous songs about the flood; Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" was also based on the events of the flood. Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie's "When the Levee Breaks" was reworked by Led Zeppelin, and became one of that group's most famous songs. William Faulkner's short story "Old Man" (in the book, Wild Palms) was about a prison break from Parchman Penitentiary during the flood.
[edit] See also
- Flood Control Act of 1928
- Great Flood of 1993
- Timeline of environmental events
[edit] References
- Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America by John M. Barry, ISBN 0-684-84002-2
- PBS American Experience: Fatal Flood
[edit] External links
- Mississippi River Flood of 1927 - short silent film produced by the US Army Signal Corps, shows the flood aftermath and relief efforts for the refugees. Hosted by the Internet Archive
- Disaster Response and Appointment of a Recovery Czar: The Executive Branch's Response to the Flood of 1927 - Well referenced CRS report.
- Delta Geography Information about how the Flood of 1927 currently influences the life of people that live in the Delta
Categories: 1927 meteorology | African-American history | Natural history of Arkansas | Natural history of Louisiana | St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana | Natural history of Mississippi | Mississippi River | Historic weather events in the United States | Floods in the United States | History of the United States (1918–1945)
