The Mississippi Flood

I assume they are paid when the corp of engineers blow the levee, and I got to wonder if that makes more sense than rebuilding a few houses in town. Fred

I'm in Memphis and if you believe the national news reports then we all drowned.  Only about 1% was impacted here but to listen to them it was a disaster.  My uncle called from California this week to check on us.  Memphis is called the bluff city for good reason plus we have levees that were built a long time ago.  Yes it was within 1 foot of being the highest ever recorded here but again that's why we have the levees.  Thank goodness the news people left to go on down south.  Now they are predicting gloom and doom for New Orleans.  Sure, I believe them. 

That's exactly right... floodplain property, ESPECIALLY that protected by USACE levees, are essentially all deeded with inclusion of a FLOWAGE EASEMENT.  That means that the government went through condemnation proceedings of property protected by levees (as well as properties flooded by the installation of dams), where that which was either submerged, or protected by submergence by artificial structures, are either purchased BY the government (where owners were compensated via settlement process), or compensation was offered in lieu of an easement for floodwaters to pass through.

When a flowage easement exists on floodplain land, the insurable capacity of the property is affected to some degree... some insurance companies simply won't cover anything PLACED in flowage-easement land... others will limit coverage.

The reality of 'blowing' levees, is that an earthen-dam levee system is not 'perfect'... with high water line, and constant pressure, the levee WILL become saturated... and eventually, fail.  Not a matter of IF, it's a matter of WHEN.  It doesn't take much calculation or observation to determine that a levee failure is imminent... the USACE sends out geotechs with fancy instrumentation, but an experienced farmer or river-rat with a piece of 1/2" rebar can probe the levee to determine saturation.

By blowing the levee, they didn't CHANGE the reality-  property would've been flooded either way.  But by blowing it, they got to CHOOSE where, and how fast the land was flooded.  Typically, a levee will break where it's been saturated the most, the fastest... and where current puts extreme scouring pressure on the levee.  This is usually pretty far upstream... and failure at that end causes a very violent inrush capable of washing away incredible buildings with no difficulty  When they BLOW a levee, they typically do it on a protected DOWNSTREAM end, so water comes in slowly from the downhill side.

So you can look at it for what it is-  when people complain about being flooded, it's because they're not willing to admit that they're living in an area that would regularly flood for millions of years prior to the levee and neighborhood being built.   Second of all, insurance companies looking into the myriad of ways to deny a customer coverage.  Finally, you see the fine USACE and other organizations trying hard to minimize damage to people and areas that they know will be really messed-up if they don't try to 'control' the inrush.

And lastly... although it seriously damages planted crops, the mere fact of a flood means that ground will be leveled and covered with a layer of silt and other materials that enrich the soil.  A good flood every so often makes the soil produce very, very well.

Every coin has two sides!