It’s been a long time coming.  The Mississippi has slowly risen to displace an unknown number of area residents,  inundate our waterfront, drown our historic cobblestone landing, disrupt Memphis in May, and lay waste to area agriculture.  Now we are told the river  has hit its crest, the highest the Mississippi waters will get at Memphis during this Great Flood of 2011.

Image by joespake via Flickr

This disaster is not half over

Visits have diminished on my flickr and Youtube accounts;  the disaster tourists are tiring of gawking; and it looks like the mentality of getting back to normal is kicking in.  But it will probably take about as long for the water to recede as it has for it to rise.

If something was flooded 2 weeks ago, its likely it will be flooded 2 weeks from now.  And the cleanup?  Think of the homes that have been completely flooded; consider the vast areas of Memphis, the streets, the parks, the public plazas, now underwater.  The water will recede, leaving a muddy, garbage littered, possibly toxic mess.  Many homes won’t be salvageable.   The worst of this may be yet to come.  And the  crests have not even gotten to our brothers and sisters downstream yet.  Vicksburg, Natchez, Baton Rouge, New Orleans are still anticipating record flooding.

I have to give another big thank you to Shelby County Emergency Preparedness which has done a stellar job of leadership through this crisis.  I am sure they will continue to stay on top of the situation until things are back to “normal”.

And do I need to remind you?  Help out where you can.  Volunteer if you can.  Donate if you can’t.  The Red Cross always seems to put disaster donations to good use, and I am sure all the relief centers can use goods, services and donations too.

Related articles

• River crests in Memphis; downstream states brace (ajc.com)