• Waiting game in Mississippi as river nears crest

    Dave Martin / AP

    Floodwaters from the Yazoo river creep across fields of crops near Yazoo City, Miss., on Thursday. The water is expected to crest on Thursday, May 19. For thousands of people forced from their homes by the rising Mississippi River, life has become a tedious waiting game: waiting for meals at shelters, waiting for the latest word on their flooded homes, waiting for the river to fall.

    Dave Martin / AP

    Homes are surrounded by floodwaters from the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Miss., on Thursday.

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  • Eric Thayer / Reuters

    A home is seen protected from encroaching floodwaters by a levee near Yazoo City, Mississippi, on Wednesday, May 18. Floodwater released from a key Mississippi River spillway surged through the Louisiana bayou on Tuesday, and levees protecting the state's two biggest cities held as river flows neared their peak. Weeks of heavy rains and runoff from an unusually snowy winter caused the Mississippi River to rise, flooding thousands of homes and 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) of farmland in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas and evoking comparisons to historic floods in 1927 and 1937.

    Flood frontline gets some good news about crest

    Full story.

  • Jordan store, survivor of the 1927 flood, is readied for river's crest

    By Rich Shulman

    It looks like this store hasn't changed too much since 1927. I sure hope photographer Scott Olson returns after the crest of the flood.

    Click here to see our continuing coverage of the flood along the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

    Scott Olson / Getty Images

    Ed Jordan works in his store May 13 in Carter, Mississippi. Most of the merchandise has been raised 4 feet or more above the floor because Jordan expects floodwater to reach 3 feet in the store. The store last flooded in 1927 when water reached more than 7 feet in the store. The Mississippi river at Vicksburg is expected to crest at a record 58.5 feet on May 19. Heavy rains have left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

    Scott Olson / Getty Images

    A mark on the wall near the entrance of Jordan's Store shows the high-water mark from the 1927 flood May 13 in Carter, Mississippi. Ed Jordan, who owns the store, expects floodwater to reach 3 feet inside his store this year. The Mississippi river at Vicksburg is expected to crest at a record 58.5 feet on May 19. Heavy rains have left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

  • Eric Thayer / Reuters

    Wayne Johnson, left, and Jeff Guidry carry possessions from Johnson's home in Butte LaRose, La. on May 13, 2011. Residents were nervously awaiting the government's decision to open the Morganza Spillway in Louisiana this weekend to prevent massive flooding in New Orleans and other parts of the state.

    Residents of Butte LaRose, La. prepare for possible floodwaters

    By Robert Hood

    Whenever I see a scene like this, and we see them way too often, I ask myself what I’d take if I had only a few hours before floodwaters hit my home. What would you take?

    Click here to see our continuing coverage of the flood along the Mississippi River and its contributories.

  • Before and after the flood

    NASA

    The imaging spectroradiometer on NASA's Aqua satellite acquired this image of the swollen Mississippi River on May 5, 2011.

    NASA

    This "before" image of the same region of the Mississippi River Valley was taken a year ago, on May 5, 2010.

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

    Before-and-after satellite imagery reveals how much this month's flooding has changed the shape of the Mississippi River.

    The upper image was captured by NASA's Aqua satellite, using its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, on May 5, 2011. The lower image was taken exactly one year earlier with the same imaging instrument.

    Both images use a combination of infrared and visible light to distinguish between different surface features. The water is shown in shades of blue. The clouds visible in this month's image are a pale blue-green. Vegetation is green, and soil is brown. Such images can be used to assess the floods' long-term effects on agriculture in the region.

    More satellite views in the news:

    Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," Alan's book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

  • Army Corps of Engineers open Bonnet Carre spillway ahead of river crest

    By Rich Shulman

    "Ol' Man River" is making life difficult this year.

    As the AP reported today:

    Downriver in Louisiana, the Army Corps of Engineers began opening the first floodgates at the Bonnet Carre spillway about 30 miles northwest of New Orleans. Workers pulled restraining devices off 28 of the spillway's 350 gates, and the corps said it will monitor river levels before deciding to open more.

    It's the 10th time the spillway has opened since the structure was completed in 1931.

    The corps also has asked for permission to open the key Morganza spillway north of Baton Rouge. Officials warned residents that even if it were opened, residents could expect water 5 to 25 feet deep over parts of seven parishes. Some of Louisiana's most valuable farmland is expected to be inundated.

    Click here for the "Flooding ravages US" slideshow.

    Gerald Herbert / AP

    Workers use cranes to remove some of the Bonnet Carre Spillway's wooden barriers, which serve as a dam against the high water in Norco, La., Monday, May 9 in anticipation of rising floodwater. The spillway, which the Corps built about 30 miles upriver from New Orleans in response to the great flood of 1927, last opened during the spring 2008. Monday marked the 10th time it has been opened since the structure was completed in 1931. The spillway diverts water from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain.

    Patrick Semansky / AP

    People gather to look at opened bays on the Bonnet Carre Spillway in Norco, La., Monday, May 9. The spillway, which the Army Corps of Engineers built about 30 miles upriver from New Orleans in response to the great flood of 1927, last opened during the spring 2008.


  • 'Mini-tsunami': Levee blasted in desperate bid to save town

    By Rich Shulman

    Update: Getty moved this nice image of the Presson family after the levee explosion cut them off from their farm.

    Earlier posts: the spectacular nighttime explosion last night and  archival photos of when the levee was blown in 1937.

    Scott Olson / Getty Images

    Roy Presson embraces his daughters Catherine and Amanda as they stand on the edge of State Highway HH looking out at their family farm on May 3, at Wyatt, Missouri. The Presson home and 2,400 acres of land that they farmed was flooded last night when the Army Corps of Engineers blew a massive hole in a levee at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to help save the town of Cairo, Illinois. Residents of Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee and Arkansas are bracing for record flooding from the two rivers.

    Below is a daylight view of Mississippi County, Mo. after the Bird's Point levee was blown last night.

    Jeff Roberson / AP

    Part of the 130,000 acres of farmland flooded by an intentional break in the Birds Point levee is seen Tuesday, May 3, in Mississippi County, Mo. Army Corps of Engineers' blew a two-mile hole into the levee in southeast Missouri to take pressure off the rising Mississippi and Ohio rivers and try to protect nearby Cairo, Ill.

  • Engineers blow 11,000 foot hole in Mississippi levee to protect town

    David Carson / St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP

    In this image taken from video, an explosion lights up the night sky as the the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blows an 11,000 foot hole in the Birds Point levee in Mississippi County, Mo. on May 2. Army Corps of Engineers' Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh gave the order to blow a two-mile hole into the Birds Point levee in southeast Missouri, which will flood 130,000 acres of farmland in Missouri's Mississippi County but protect nearby Cairo, Ill.

    WYATT, Mo — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers exploded a large section of a Mississippi River levee late Monday in a desperate attempt to protect the Illinois town of Cairo from rising floodwaters.

    The corps says the break would help Cairo by diverting up to 4 feet of water off the river. As of Monday evening, river levels at Cairo were at historic highs, creating pressure on the floodwall protecting the town. Continue reading.