The flooding of the Midwest in 1993 was the most devastating
in U.S. history – only rivaled perhaps by the great Mississippi Flood of
1927. Fifty people died and 15 billion
dollars were lost, as 17 thousand square miles of land were covered by
floodwater from North Dakota down to Missouri.
The high water levels were due in part to a 50 to 100
percent increase in rainfall in the Mississippi River drainage basin during the
first half of the year. Added to this
was the fact that the previous year was cooler than average, so the ground was
still partly saturated.
Roger Brackenridge of Dartmouth College has used satellite
imagery to review this and other flood disasters. The goal is to improve flood management,
prediction and monitoring.
The false color images above – taken by the Landsat 5 satellite – compares the area around St. Louis,
Missouri, in August of 1991 and 1993. Water
appears dark blue, healthy vegetation is green, bare fields and freshly exposed
soil are pink, and concrete is grey.
The Mississippi River in St. Louis was above flood stage for
144 days between April 1 and September 30, 1993.
-- LiveScience
Staff
Credit: NASA/ Earth
Observatory/Jesse Allen
