The Great Flood of 1927 through 2005

Part 3 is a dramatic, detailed story of the flood itself. I won't summarize Barry's description, but I can't help but point out some disgusting similarities between then and now with flood control, river management, and emergency operations.

First, here's the flood in Greenville (the focus of the Delta). The website has more pics...

Here's New Orleans. The internet is loaded with some awesome, tragic photos; google 'em.


Race was central to the fight against the flood. Unlike during Katrina, the 1927 floods developed slowly, powerfully, throughout the entire basin area. Flooding occurred throughout the area due to heavy precipitation for several months; in the lower Mississippi, the river rose higher and higher as each successive crest pushed down the length of the highest levees ever built. As the river level approached and then topped the crown of the levees, huge efforts of sandbagging, requiring enormous amounts of labor, were necessary. Race dictated who did the physical labor, who made decisions, who had guns to patrol the levees from potential dynamite saboteurs (dynamiting one bank of the river eased tension/level for the other side), who were the overseers. Guns kept blacks from leaving the forced labor camps. Black men were picked up by the police and forced to work if they were not already doing so. Meanwhile, newspapers touted the military-like flood control endeavor as racial progress.

Newspapers nowadays?
Forced labor?
Guns?

This is all very familiar.