Taming the Upper Mississippi, Chapter 6: The great flood of 1993

EDITOR’S NOTE: Muddy River News has received permission to reprint reviews and chapters from the book, “Taming the Upper Mississippi: My Turn at Watch, 1935-1999,” written by Janice Petterchak. The book reflects on flood protection, navigation and the environment on the upper Mississippi River through the eyes of Quincy engineer William H. Klingner. You can read the entire series here.

The levee districts in the upper valley knew they had inadequate levees and, in many cases, significant erosion on the river side of the levees.

H.R. 992 was introduced by Congressman Dick Durbin of Illinois in early 1993, and it had 100 percent of the upper Mississippi River congressmen sign on to address erosion issues. Sen. Paul Simon visited the levees north of Quincy in the spring of 1993 to look at erosion areas along the navigation channel that washed into the toe of the levees.

However, nothing was done on erosion or improving the districts level of protection. The summer of 1993 witnessed the great flood — far exceeding any flood heights ever seen in recorded history. In the Quincy-Hannibal area, water elevations exceeded the 1973 flood by over three feet.

Levee district after levee district experienced overtopping failures. The flood inundated parts of nine upper Mississippi River states, transforming 10 million acres of farmland, homes, and businesses into what Vice President Al Gore described as the sixth Great Lake. An initial estimate of $15 billion in damages and 37 deaths was later updated to $20 billion in damages with 47 deaths.

Levees designed for major floods, like south Quincy and the Hannibal flood wall, were among the few areas not significantly damaged and did not flood. Clearly, the upper valley needed a flood control system like the lower Mississippi. In the lower Mississippi, the 1993 flood passed with plenty of freeboard and no loss of life.

Could we get a MR&T for the upper valley to prevent this kind of damage and loss of life?