Mississippi Flooding 2011
Heavy spring rains and snowmelt led to devastating floods along the Mississippi River in May 2011. Landsat 5 flew over the Mississippi River on May 10, 2011, giving a distinct view of the extraordinary extent of the flooding. This was only eight days after the Army Corps of Engineers began blasting holes in earthen levees near Cairo, Illinois, when the river reached a depth of 61 feet.
The extent of the 2011 flooding is compared with the same locations in April 2010.
Satellite imagery of the 2011 flooding along the Mississippi River compared with imagery from 2010. Shows high resolution images from Landsat 5 of Cairo, Illinois, and Memphis, Tennessee.
To prevent flooding in Cairo, Illinois, the US Army Corps of Engineers blasted a two-mile hole in the levee to let the waters flow into the New Madrid Floodway.
Near Memphis Tennessee, flood waters crested at 48 feet, only inches below the record high level of the 1937 floods.
No narration, just music.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Individual Landsat scenes were combined by Jesse Allen of the NASA Earth Observatory.
The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.
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Video editor
- Matthew Radcliff (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Producer
- Matthew Radcliff (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Tapes
This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:-
Mississippi River 2011 Flooding
(ID: 2011062)
Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 4:00AM
Produced by - Walt Feimer