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Which areas were most severely affected by the Mississippi River flood of 1993?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Map of the United States showing the Mississippi River and its major tributaries flowing south from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. A shaded area marks the Mississippi River basin, and New Orleans is labeled near the river's mouth.
Mississippi River

The Mississippi River flood of 1993 was a catastrophic event primarily affecting the upper and middle reaches of the Mississippi River and the lower Missouri River.12

The areas most severely impacted included:

  • The Mississippi River: The stretch between the Wisconsin-Illinois border and Cape Girardeau, Missouri.1
  • The Missouri River: The lower reaches of the river.1
  • Iowa: The Des Moines and Raccoon rivers were among the worst-hit, with the Raccoon River in Des Moines experiencing a 500-year flood event.1

In total, approximately 15 million acres (6.1 million hectares) were flooded, and the event resulted in the failure of 40 federal levees and 1,043 nonfederal levees. This disaster demonstrated that total control of such a massive river system is neither possible nor economically feasible, leading to a shift in perspective toward "living with the river" by moving homes and towns off floodplains.1