Record-breaking snowmelt is flooding the Mississippi

Mississippi River course, watershed, and major tributaries
(Wikipedia map)

Where there's snow, there's eventually water, and this spring, the Mississippi River and its vast tributaries have left their drought-filled days behind and are swelling with record-breaking snowmelt. "Flooding expected this spring is likely to bring the river to its highest level in over 20 years, according to the National Weather Service," reports Kayla Guo of Politico. "For the next three weeks, the Department of Agriculture said, all barge traffic across part of the Upper Mississippi has stopped due to flooding. . . . [It] predicts that around the end of this week, locks and dams as far south as Saverton, Missouri (around the Mississippi River's midpoint) could be forced to shut down until mid-May due to high water."

Riverside Park in La Crosse, Wis., flooded on April 26.
(Photo by Eric Auer Lee, La Crosse Tribune)

People in the river's central valley are preparing for the surge. "Cities in Iowa and Illinois are likely to face a big test of beefed-up flood defenses in the next week as flooding from record snow in Minnesota courses down the Mississippi River," reports Joe Barrett of The Wall Street Journal. "Some cities in Minnesota had record or near-record snowfall this winter, and much of it rapidly melted as temperatures climbed to the 80s and 90s earlier this month. . . . Peak floodwaters are heading for Iowa and Illinois. . . .The floods aren't expected to cause as much damage as they did in 2019. . . . One of the biggest and longest-lasting flood seasons on record. . . . Snow this winter was heavily concentrated in Minnesota and Wisconsin, so most tributaries of the Mississippi south of those states aren't likely to contribute to the flood."

Marquette, Iowa, pop. 430, is one town preparing. "Highway 76 along the Mississippi is closed north of Marquette. Marquette Mayor Steve Weipert said the city is in a good place, as they continue to follow their plans," reports KCRG News in Cedar Rapids. Weipert told KCRG, "We knew at every stage what we had to do, and go ahead and get 'er done, and that's how life goes on the river." Barrett reports, "Still, the floods are poised to present the first significant test of new pumps and strengthened temporary levees that cities put in place or into their flood-fighting plans after 2019. . . . The river crested in La Crosse, Wis., about 25 miles north of the Iowa border, on Wednesday at the third-highest level ever."