Mississippi River & Tributaries Project Historic Flood of 2011 Mr. Donald R. Davenport Hydraulic Engineer/Silver Jacket Coordinator Memphis District US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG® Flooded 26,000 sq. miles 600,000 homeless Over 250 people killed Economic Damages ~$1B MR&T Project & 2011 Flood Facts • MR&T Project Authorized After the 1927 Flood-Flood Control Act of 1928 •Designed for a Project Design Flood (PDF) – Extreme Event w/Reasonable Chance of Occurrence •2011 Flood Exceeded 1927 and/or 1937 floods but was only about 80- 85% of PDF •MR&T Project contained the 2011 Flood despite being only 89% Complete while: •No MR&T Levees failed or were overtopped •Used 3 of 4 Floodways during the 2011 Flood (not Atchafalaya in New Orleans District) •Backwater Areas’ Flooding Limited to Interior Flooding Although Came Close to Using Yazoo BW Area in the Vicksburg Distrit US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG® Project Design Flood Rainfall 6 The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG® Memphis District Boundaries MRT Project in Memphis District .1,160 miles of Levees & Floodwalls .275 miles of Berms .1,300 Relief Wells .4 Corps Pumping Stations .1,300 miles of Channels .600 miles of Navigation Channel . 2 Harbors The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. 8 BUILDING STRONG® BUILDING STRONG® Memphis Flood Fight Areas & Activation Levels INDICATED STAGES FOR MOBILIZATION WITH SUSTAINED RISE IN SIGHT INDICATED FLOOD MOBILIZATION STAGE STAGE PHASE I PHASE II Little River Diversion Channel 32 ft 38 ft 43 ft (Cape Girardeau, MO, Gage) MISSISSIPPI RIVER: Cairo Gage 40 ft 49 ft 52 ft Memphis Gage 34 ft 37 ft 39 ft Helena Gage 44 ft 46 ft 48 ft ST. FRANCIS RIVER: St. Francistown Gage 18 ft 24 ft 25 ft Lake City Gage 6 ft 12 ft 13.5 ft WHITE RIVER: Georgetown Gage 21 ft 22 ft 29 ft Des Arc Gage 24 ft 25 ft 31 ft Clarendon Gage 26 ft 32 ft 35 ft 10 BUILDING STRONG® Total PDF Precipitation Observed Apr 19-May 4 2011 Precipitation Comparison between the Project Design Flood (PDF) Precipitation events and the observed 2011 precipitation event.: • The PDF occurred in 3 events. • The axis of maximum precipitation for the PDF was along and south of the Ohio River. • Maximum rainfall totals for PDF were 24-32” over KY and along the Ohio River • The 2011 precipitation event occurred during 2 events 4/19-4/28 and 5/1-5/4. • The axis of maximum precipitation for the 2011 event was along and just north of the Ohio River in unregulated areas. • Maximum rainfall totals for 2011 event were 12-24” along and just north of the Ohio River. •It should be noted that stages at Cairo were elevated (+10ft or 127% of normal) at the onset of the 2011 rainfall event due to heavy rains in late Feb/early Mar that produced a crest of 53.41’ on 3/18. 11 BUILDING STRONG® BUILDING STRONG® Floodfight Time Line April 24 April 28 April 20 April 25 April 29 4/20 4/21 4/22 4/23 4/24 4/25 4/26 4/27 4/28 4/29 4/30 2011 Reelfoot Obion Cairo Missouri Upper St. Francis West Memphis Memphis Helena Clarksdale White River 13 BUILDING STRONG® May 18 May 24 May 10 May 16 May 21 May 26 May 17 May 22 May 2 May 6 May 11 May 28 5/1 5/5 5/9 5/13 5/17 5/21 5/25 5/29 2011 Lower St. Francis Upper St. Francis White River Reelfoot Obion Missouri Cairo West Memphis Memphis Clarksdale Helena 14 BUILDING STRONG® Top 10 Significant Events . High energy sandboils in Cairo, IL . Water Berm near Fulton, KY . Operation of Birds Point New Madrid Floodway . Overtopping of Wappapello Spillway in Missouri . Bank Failure at Merriweather – Cherokee in Tennessee . Tennemo Levee breach . Dyer County Little Levee breaches . Overtopping of White River Levee, Biscoe, AR . Sandboils at Ensley Levee, Memphis, TN . Sandboils at Rena Lara, MS Events in our discussion 15 BUILDING STRONG® Sand Boils LEVEE CENTERLINE LANDWARD SAND BOIL RIVERWARD IMPERVIOUS ZONE RANDOM ZONE NATURAL BLANKET FOUNDATION SAND BEDROCK BUILDING STRONG® Mother of all Sandboils (MOASB) – Cairo, IL 17 BUILDING STRONG® Sandboil in Cairo, IL BUILDING STRONG® Sandboil in Cairo, IL 19 BUILDING STRONG® Sandboil – approximately 12’ deep and 50’ across 20 BUILDING STRONG® High Energy Sandboil in Cairo, IL 21 BUILDING STRONG® Additional High Energy Sandboil in Cairo, IL 22 BUILDING STRONG® Additional High Energy Sandboil in Cairo, IL 23 BUILDING STRONG® Ensley Levee south of Memphis, TN 24 BUILDING STRONG® Ensley Levee south of Memphis, TN 25 BUILDING STRONG® Sandboils at toe of Ensley Levee Berm - 26 BUILDING STRONG® Fulton County KY Water Berm 27 BUILDING STRONG® Fulton County KY Water Berm 28 BUILDING STRONG® Fulton County KY Water Berm 29 BUILDING STRONG® Tennemo Levee Crevasse 30 BUILDING STRONG® Tennemo Levee Crevasse 31 BUILDING STRONG® Dyer County Little Levee Breaches 32 BUILDING STRONG® Dyer County Little Levee Breaches 33 BUILDING STRONG® 34 BUILDING STRONG® The Ultimate Action in Risk Management Memphis District blew up 9000’ of MS river main line levee ! 35 BUILDING STRONG® BPNM Floodway Performance Cairo Cairo Gage Information Wickliffe Prior to Activation of Inflow Crevasse: 61.7’ 5/2/2011 Expected Crest without Activation: 63.0’ 5/5/2011 Immediately Following Activation: 60.67’ 5/3/2011 Inflow Friday’s Stage: ~28.5’ 7/29/2011 Crevasse Provided 3.5’+ benefit compared to predicted stages Flow Rates Inflow/Outflow Crevasse #1 Inflow Crevasse = 404,000 cfs on 5/3/2011 Hickman Inflow/Outflow #1 = 87,000 cfs on 5/16/2011 Inflow/Outflow #2 = 383,000 cfs 5/6/2011 Reelfoot (Includes1500 ft Gap and Inflow/Outflow #2) Lake Inflow/Outflow Crevasse #2 Link to USGS for flow/velocity: http://water.usgs.gov/osw/floods/today/BPNM_measurement.html BUILDING STRONG® BUILDING STRONG® Plan of Operations-Based on Cairo Gage Setback Levee (65.5') 66 Cairo Floodwall and 65 Commerce Birds Point Trigger Points and 63 Levee (65.3’) Operation Times PDF with Floodway (62.5') 62 Must Operate by 61’ Frontline Levee (62.5') 61 H + 12 Fuse plugs on 60 Frontline Levee (60.5’) Inflow crevasse ready for operation 59 H - 0 Comparative Heights Arrive at Floodway; Load embedded of Flood Control Works 58 pipes (forecast 60.5’ and rising) 57 H - 15 56 Depart Memphis Harbor (projected rise) H - 53 55 54 Load barges and MVK vessels depart from Vicksburg 53 H - 77 52 Personnel and equipment on “alert” H - 101 BUILDING STRONG® FLOODWAY ACTIVATION BUILDING STRONG® Birds Point New Madrid (BPNM) barges loaded at Ensley Engineer Yard (EEY) 40 BUILDING STRONG® BPNM barges loaded at EEY 41 BUILDING STRONG® BPNM tow heading north on 26 April 42 BUILDING STRONG® BPNM Access Wells Opened 43 BUILDING STRONG® BPNM Pumping Activities 44 BUILDING STRONG® 45 BUILDING STRONG® Inflow Performance . Stats: ► 24,875 of 27,210 LF detonated (91.5%) ► 404,000 cfs Max Inflow on 3 May 2011 BUILDING STRONG® BUILDING STRONG® BUILDING STRONG® The Historic Flood of 2011 . The MR&T Project worked as designed – provided the authorized level of flood protection. The flood recorded historic levels throughout the basin. All 6 Districts conducted flood fights in their areas. Virtually all of the Memphis District was engaged with flood fighting or supporting the effort. The District was in flood fight mode for 47 straight days. This was the only known time that all 10 flood fight areas of the District were in flood fights at the same time. The only time in history that the 3 major floodways were used together for one flood: Birds Point New Madrid Floodway in Missouri, and Morganza Floodway and Bonnet Carre Spillway in Louisiana. 49 BUILDING STRONG® 50 BUILDING STRONG® …but not without damage CAIRO MISSOURI RF HELENA SF LOWER MEMPHIS SF UPPER WHITERIVER CLARKSDALE - OBION DEFICIENCY TOTAL Armoring 1 1 Backwater Flooding 8 2 1 1 3 3 18 Burrows 1 5 6 Depression 2 2 3 1 1 1 7 17 Deterioration 1 3 2 1 7 Erosion 1 1 2 Excavation 1 1 Failure (Undetermined) 1 3 4 Inoperable 1 1 Leaking 4 1 1 5 11 Obstructions 1 1 Other (Specifiy in remarks) 7 9 1 2 5 5 1 1 31 Overtopping 2 2 1 5 Rutting 2 1 3 Sand Boils 30 14 57 12 1 33 41 85 273 Scouring 1 5 8 14 Seepage 2 2 2 70 10 15 16 117 Sliding 3 6 2 3 1 2 17 Slope Stability 2 2 4 Total 62 38 69 100 18 68 61 5 112 533 51 BUILDING STRONG® Memphis District 2011 Flood Repairs Upper District 52 BUILDING STRONG® Memphis District 2011 Flood Repairs Lower District 53 BUILDING STRONG® 54 BUILDING STRONG® Relief Wells RIVERSIDE LANDSIDE Clay Sand Tertiary Formation 55 BUILDING STRONG® Slurry Trench RIVERSIDE LANDSIDE Clay Sand Tertiary Formation 56 BUILDING STRONG® BIRDS POINT-NEW MADRID FLOODWAY 1990 RECON STUDY ALTERNATIVES .