Causes and effects of fatal floods

Fatal Flood -- Causes and Effects

Almost 80 years before Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and flooded New Orleans, the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 caused an even more destructive river flood, still the most destructive in American history. Unlike the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi Flood was the result of weather events that took almost a year to develop, beginning in the summer of 1926. When the Mississippi levees finally broke in April of 1927, almost 30,000 square miles of land were flooded devastating seven states (Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas), killing 246 people, and causing almost half a billion dollars in damage (a staggering amount of money in 1927 dollars, obviously).

The Mississippi Flood forced the relocation of more than 600,000 people, almost all of whom had been residents of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. In addition to the most obvious immediate consequences of the flooding, the event also resulted indirectly in several other changes that greatly influence American history later in the century.

The aftermath of the event precipitated racial antagonism throughout the southern states, rekindling issues between the races that had never really subsided since the Reconstruction Era a half century earlier. As a result, it caused the largest migration of African-Americans from the South since Reconstruction and resulted in demographic changes to the Northeast that are still evident today. The Mississippi Flood also likely helped Huey Long become Governor of Louisiana in 1928 and it also helped then U.S. Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover in his eventual rise to the presidency of the United States. Ironically, it may have also resulted in his defeat four years later because of his failure to achieve some of his promises to those affected by the flooding whose support had carried his election in the first place.

The Cause and Immediate Effects of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927

Heavy rain over Mississippi throughout the summer of 1926 threatened the states of Kansas and Iowa when the river's tributaries were filled beyond their capacity; areas of Tennessee were threatened by the possible failure of its levees as well. Then, on April 15, 1927, an additional fifteen inches of water fell in less than a single 24-hour period, causing more than 100 different levee failures releasing so much water that it covered 27,000 square miles with as much as thirty feet of water.

Because of the known vulnerability of New Orleans by virtue of its geography, Louisiana authorities attempted to protect the city by blowing up a levee at Caernarvon. Unlike the situation with Hurricane Katrina 78 years later, that proved unnecessary because so many other levees had been breached upstream, that it diverted the water from New Orleans. Arkansas suffered the most damage of all the affected states with almost 15% of the entire state covered in water.

The Federal Relief Efforts and their Effects on Political Events

Unlike the horribly inefficient and botched efforts of the federal government to respond to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the federal government responded much more effectively in 1927 under the supervision and authority of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, a former professional mining engineer. According to many historians, that relief effort was instrumental in propelling Hoover into the national spotlight and eventually helped him win the 1929 presidential election.

The Mississippi Flood as the Cause of Racial Tension

Approximately 650,000 people were directly affected by the Mississippi Flood of 1927, having to relocate because their homes, property, and entire communities were completely destroyed by the flood. Almost half of them were housed in relief camps of whom almost three-quarters were African-American. In many cases, the conditions sparked racial tensions and events such as what occurred in Greenville, Mississippi. More than 10,000 people were stranded without drinking water, food, or any other supplies for several days.

When boats finally arrived, they initially rescued only children and white women, leaving white men, and African-Americans. In another event that made nationwide headlines, police had been sent to round up relief workers from the "Negro" areas. When an African-American man refused orders to report for work, he was shot by police.

In many cases, the failure to rescue African-Americans (especially in Mississippi) was actually a deliberate decision by influential white landowners. They feared that if the African-American sharecroppers to whom they leased land and from whose work they profited were allowed to evacuate the region, they would choose not to return.

They were, in effect, imprisoned at the levees by wealthy white men in a manner reminiscent of the slavery era in the American South. Other specific incidents of racial violence and the racial tensions that they and the general treatment of African-Americans in the flood-affected regions caused in the regions eventually resulted in the largest migration of African-Americans toward the Northeast since the post- Civil War era a half century earlier.

During his campaign for the U.S. presidency the following year, Herbert Hoover made various promises in relation to racial inequalities and pledged to improve the status and living conditions of African-Americans. Those promises contributed to his victory in 1929. However, his failure to follow through with many of those promises, the relatively unchanged circumstances of African-Americans during the four years of his first presidential term, together with the 1929 Stock Market Crash are believed to have been largely responsible for his defeat in the 1932 presidential election.