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The Worst Flood Of The Mississippi River Basin

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In 1993, the Midwest experienced the worst flood in American history affecting ten states in the Upper Mississippi River basin. The flooding lasted from late spring to fall, killing fifty-two people and damaging a 100,000 homes and businesses. The cause of the flooding was a heavy winter with lots of snow and a spring season full of rain, which saturated the soil. Instead, of a hot summer, the rain kept coming and the Upper Mississippi River Basin received three and a half times its normal rain. Since it continuously rained, the water levels kept rising and many of the levees broke. The water levels stayed high for weeks destroying towns and agriculture all throughout the Midwest.

One of the main issues leading up to the flood of 1993 was the failed communication and partnership between local, state, and federal governments. The federal government is in charge of floodplain management instead of the local and state government, which prevents local governments becoming involved. This form of management flaw became revealed by the amount of damage the flood made. The reason the damage was so devastating and so many people lost their homes and businesses is because the federal government failed to understand the Executive Order of 1977 and permitted building in the flood plains. Some examples of the EO being understood are “a low-income housing project funded by HUD and a federally funded state prison within floodplains, and a proposed construction of a federal weather

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