River Mississippi Case Study

Facts and figures

• Drains over half of America
• $1 millionworth of damage to the dam
• It would flood every spring
• Over 2,000 miles long

• Winged dykes - narrowing the river (deepening it)
• Built levees
• Dams at the tributaries
• Shortened it by cutting off the meanders
• Lined the river with concrete

Moving people off the floodplain - Valmeyer

• Winged dykes
• Deepened 9ft
• Cutting off the meanders

• Rain- broke dams, levees - made the floods bigger - water goes up instead of out
• They did not protect themselves for such a lot of rain- levees couldn't hold it
• Rained for 3 months
• Urbanisation on the floodplain

That all of the engineering raise the level of the river, If the levees break, it makes the flood worse - increased the power of the water- more efficient- more power/faster.

Winged dykes- Increasing the velocity

                       -Increases the risk of flooding downstream

                       -Increase energy level

Removing meanders -Increase of velocity

                                  -Increases the erosion (creates more meanders)

Concrete - Increases the velocity

• Return rivers to their natural state, letting the flood plains be free of houses and let it flood.
• Getting people off the the floodplains
• Put back the wetland and marshes
• Get rid of winged dykes and levees