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The Flood of 1993

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The Flood of 1993 CHAPTER 15 The Flood of 1993 Mississippi River Charles Theiling Illinois River Reach 4 La Grange Reach 446 xtreme flooding on the Upper 675 429 Mississippi and Missouri Rivers 666 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec E during the summer of 1993 was an Reach 8 unprecedented event, one that caused sig- Reach 4 nificant human hardship, tremendous eco- 636 630 nomic losses, and extensive property and crop Reach 13 Reach 8 damage. This natural disaster also awak- ened many policy makers to the hazards of 593 Reach 13 allowing uncoordinated development in 586 floodplain environments. Reach 26 Despite the human hardship endured 442 during and after the Flood of 1993, positive La Grange Reach Elevation in feet above sea level 419 Illinois River consequences are being seen. The flooding 075150 342 Open River Reach 26 may have benefited fish and wildlife directly MILES through extended flood duration and indi- rectly through increased awareness of the Open River 309 value of floodplain ecosystems. The flood Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec required coordination of State, Federal, and Month of the year other relief agencies working to protect Figure 15-1. people and property during the flood, assess rains and snowmelt further saturated most Hydrographs from of the Midwest and Central Plains by March impacts after the flood and, importantly, the six Long Term 1993; thus water from late spring and sum- reassess policies related to floodplain man- Resource Monitoring agement. mer rains ran off to receiving streams and Program study reaches Several summary documents are reviewed rivers (NOAA 1994; Rodenhuis 1996). illustrate the diver- here to provide an overview of the flood, An evaluation of rain events responsible gence between the Flood of 1993 water its economic and ecological effect, and pol- for the flood reveals five stages: (1) buildup levels (jagged upper phase (April and May), (2) transition phase icy recommendations developed in line) and the 50-year (June), (3) sustained precipitation (July), (4) response to the flood. postdam average extended phase (August), and (5) intermit- (smooth lower line). The Anatomy of the Flood tent events (September) (Rodenhuis 1996). spring flood pulse The extreme flooding of 1993 was the Spring rains caused some flooding during shown in the postdam averages is increasingly result of an unusually wet weather pattern April and May but the river receded during overwhelmed in a the latter part of May and early June (Figure stalled over the already-saturated downstream direction 15-1). The more significant rains started Mississippi River Basin. During the fall of by the unusual sum- 1992, soil moisture values in the central mid-June and continued through most of mer flooding in 1993 United States were high. Additional rain July, with smaller rain events sustaining flood (Source: Sparks 1996; and snow during the winter months added conditions during August. A few isolated John C. Nelson, Illinois Natural History Survey, to the nearly saturated soils. Early spring September storms raised river levels again Alton, Illinois). The Flood of 1993 15-1 (Figure 15-1). An assessment of rainfall October 1992 through distribution is summarized in Figure 15-2. May 1993 Most areas received higher than normal rain between October 1992 and May 75–100% 1993. But between June and September 100–125% 1993 rainfall exceeded 150 percent of 125-150% normal throughout much of the basin 150–175% (IFMRC 1994). The most unusual rains, those that 175-200% occurred during June and July, were the 200–225% result of the convergence of cool dry air 225–250% from the northwest and warm moist air from the south (Figure 15-3; NOAA 1994, June 1993 through Rodenhuis 1996). Rainfall throughout the September 1993 Mississippi and Missouri Basins caused record flooding, estimated to be a 500-year Figure 15-2. event in the lower half of the Upper Distribution of rainfall for periods Mississippi River (Figures 15-4, 15-5 and before and during 15-6 [see page 4]). The maximum discharge the summer of at the St. Louis gauge was 1,070,000 1993. The weather cubic feet per second (cfs; 30,300 cms) at pattern, stalled over a stage of 49.58 feet (15.1 m), almost 6.3 the west central feet (2 m) higher than the previous record part of the Upper Mississippi River (Koellner 1996). Over 20 million acres Basin, produced (8.1 million ha) were affected by the 1.5- to 2-times the flooding (Wright 1996). normal amount of rain (Source: Inter- Unseasonably cool dry air agency Floodplain Management Review Committee 1994). Convergence Zone Recurrent thunderstorm Jet stream, systems approximate position Little rainfall, oppressive heat Warm, moist, and humidity unstable flow "Bermuda High" Figure 15-3. This weather map illustrates how cool dry air from the northwest converged with warm moist air from the south to produce the unusually heavy and steady rains that occurred during June and July of 1993 (Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 1994). 15-2 Ecological Status and Trends of the UMRS 1998 Consequences of the Flood The consequences of the flood will be dis- cussed in relation to (1) the human per- spective—focusing on the economics of property damage, crop loss, and disrupted transportation—and (2) the ecological perspective—examining both positive and negative effects on the physical environment and a variety of floodplain flora and fauna. The Human Perspective Safety and Shelter As a human catastrophe, the flood affected parts of nine Midwest states, causing 52 deaths, leaving 74,000 people homeless, disrupting 30,000 jobs and day-to-day life for 149,000 households (Wilkins 1996; Figure 15-4. Flooding was evident throughout the entire Upper Mississippi River System Basin, and in many places new record river stages were set (Source: SAST 1996). Figure 15-5. An aerial view (left) looking upstream from the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers provides a striking example of the extent of the 1993 flooding (Source: Surdex, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri). The Flood of 1993 15-3 Figure15-6. The same approximate area as seen in Figure 15-5 shows the view from space of the convergence of three large rivers. Satellite images during low water (top) and flood stage (below) provided data necessary to quantify the flood and evaluate its impacts (Source: USGS Environmental Management Technical Center, Onalaska, Wisconsin, and SAST 1994) Wright 1996). The Red Cross responded Protection Agency, 200 water treatment rapidly, providing emergency shelter for plants, including those serving sizable 14,500 people and serving 2.5 million meals communities such as Des Moines, Iowa; at a cost of $30 million (Wilkins 1996). Alton, Illinois; and St. Joseph, Missouri, were National Guard and Coast Guard personnel affected by the flooding. Consequently, were dispatched to flood-affected regions hundreds of thousands of people were forced to provide rescue and security services. As to boil water or get it from distribution identified by the U.S. Environmental stations. Damages to water control facilities 15-4 Ecological Status and Trends of the UMRS 1998 exceeded $20 million (Wilkins 1996). Beyond basic facts, the 2-month disrup- tion of daily routine—including the search for shelter and food and the challenge of meeting short- and long-term needs of reconstruction or relocation—put a strain on families and did considerable psycholog- ical damage. Some among the dislocated population manifested the damage in increased alcohol and drug use, domestic abuse, and other stress-related behaviors (Wilkins 1996). Even after the flood, envi- ronmental factors (including floods) remained high on the list of concerns for people in Missouri (Wilkins 1996). On a positive note, the flood con- tributed to a stronger sense of community. For example, in some areas nearly 50 per- cent of the sandbaggers and relief volun- teers—almost half the population of aquifer emergence in central Illinois Figure 15-7. Farms Missouri—came from unaffected areas, (Bhowmik et al. 1994), and saturated in the Upper Mississippi River across both the state and the country, to upland crop fields. System (UMRS) help their neighbors in the floodplain floodplain suffered (Wilkins 1996). Crop Damage and Loss extensive flooding Crop damage was widespread, with more during the growing Property Damage and Recovery than 70 percent of crop losses resulting season of 1993. A Property damage was widespread through- from wet conditions that prevented planting major land use in the UMRS, agriculture out the basin and not limited to the flood- or harvesting in the uplands (Zacharius was one of the indus- plain regions. Total property damage was 1996). In all, 12.7 million acres (5.1 million tries hardest hit by estimated at $12 billion, of which $6.2 bil- ha) of corn and soybeans, representing the Flood of 1993. lion was reimbursed by the U.S. Congress. 8 percent of the total for nine midwestern Recovery was rapid, Additionally, the Federal Emergency states, were not harvested. This meant however, and most Management Agency provided $650 mil- $2.85 billion in flood disaster payments areas were planted and harvested the lion in public assistance and Small Business from the U.S. Department of Agriculture following year Administration loans exceeded $334 mil- (IFMRC 1994). (Source: St. Louis lion. The loss of private residences was esti- Whereas the immediate loss of crop pro- Post-Dispatch). mated at 70,500 homes, with as many as duction, equipment, and buildings was seri- 149,000 homes damaged (Wilkins 1996). ous, many floodplain farmers on the Over 1,900 businesses closed and 5,000 Missouri and Middle Mississippi Rivers were affected during the flood (IFMRC found their fields ruined—scoured or filled 1994).
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