'Ol Man River



 

picture from Fox News

All the rain from late April and early May left 'Ol Man River fat and overflowing as well as his friends the Wolf River, Obion River, and Loosahatchie Rivers just to name a few. As the smaller rivers in West Tennessee flooded the surrounding areas, the Mississippi River slowly began to crawl out of its banks. And then....more rain came. Two weeks later Memphis was bracing for the worst flooding of the Mississippi River since February 1937 where 'Ol Man River crested at 48.7 feet. On May 10, 2011 the Mississippi River finally crested at 47.8 feet...shy of the 1937 record.  Areas all over Memphis and West Tennessee flooded, from Lake County all the way down to Shelby County. It's a mess.

Park on the Mississippi River (picture from WREG News).

A week before this picture was taken my family and I drove down to river to look at it. We parked in the 5th parking spot from the right...it's under water in the picture.




Below are pictures of Mud Island before the flood.  For those of you not familiar with Mud Island it is a tourist attraction that is on an "island" and it has a river walk which is a replica of the Mississippi River from start to finish. You can paddle boat in the "Gulf of Mexico."

Picture from Mud Island Website before the flooding.

Pictures after the flooding.

View of Mud Island (Picture from WREG News) during the flood.

If you look behind the boat (by the way, the boat is part of Mud Island) you will see the white swan and blue river boat paddle boats that is in the "before" pictures. 

View of Mud Island (picture from WREG News)

You can see the hill with the flags in the "before" picture with the blue paddle boat.