Case study- Mississippi

Facts

• The river basin is the fifth largest in the world

• It is the third longest river in the world behind the Nile & the Amazon

• The river discharges 584 million tonnes of sediment a year

• The flood plain is 200km wide at its widest point

• The Mississippi flows through 10 states

• The river carries 13% of all freight traffic in the USA

• Its main tributaries are the R. Ohio,  R. Kansas, R. Missouri & the Red River

The Causes of the 1993 Flood

• Floods are normal in the mid-west - usually arriving in the spring when rain and snowmelt fill the streams & rivers that drain the upper Mississippi Basin

• In 1993 as normal this happened - the soil was still saturated from spring rains. Normally this is followed by dry weather &has done so for the last 20 years

• In 1993 Atmospheric conditions conspired to bring further torrential rains to the Mississippi Basina.

• Jet stream swung South bringing Cool dry air. Warm…