MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

• Thousands already evacuated across region from Illinois to Louisiana
• The flood water is expected to break an 84-year record of 48 feet 
• Prisoners fill 120,000 sandbags as worried residents closely watch levels
• Could still be two weeks before some of the most severe flooding hits
• Aftermath could last for weeks as it may be June before areas dry out

Memphis residents of all ages and races are pitching in to fill sandbags in a desperate last-ditch attempt to ward off flood waters as the Mississippi River threatens millions of homes.

More than four million people living in 63 counties close to the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico could be affected by flooding in the coming days.

Communities all along the banks of the Mississippi have been carefully watching the river rise, like a giant bathtub filling up with water.

Record river levels, some dating as far back as the 1920s, were expected to be broken in some parts along the river. In Memphis, the river was expected to crest at 48 feet on Wednesday, just shy of the 48.7-foot record from the devastating flood of 1937.”  Read more.

By Lauren Lee – “MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Mississippi River continues to rise, so much so that its tributaries are starting to flow backwards. At Tom Lee Park, preps for Memphis in May continue knowing that the worst is still yet to come.

It’s a site not often seen; the Wolf River and Nonconnah Creek are flowing backwards. The swelling river cannot take on much more water.

Gene Rench with the National Weather Service said all eyes are on the Mississippi. The tributaries flowing backwards are a big problem for the adjacent communities.

‘Right now the Mississippi river is in the process of going through what we call an epic flood, meaning it’s more than historic, it’s more than a 100 year flood, it’s more like a 500 year flood,’ he said. ‘We could flood many homes, businesses, close down factories, people could drown.’

The river is more than two feet past flood stage; it rose two feet in the 24 hours following the storms. It’s expected to crest at 45 feet around May 10th…” Read more.

By Greg Hilburn – “Mississippi River levels will reach an all-time high this month, exceeding even the great flood of 1927, according to a new forecast by the National Weather Service, but U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials said Louisiana’s levees should contain the rising waters.

The new forecast issued Monday raised the crest 4 more feet at Vicksburg, Miss., to 57.5 feet on May 18, The 1927 crest was 56.2 feet. Flood stage is 43 feet.

But the corps’ Robert Simrall was quick to point out the Louisiana levee system is higher than in 1927.

‘These levees are designed to contain this flood,’ Simrall said.

Still, even corps officials like Simrall were surprised by the new crest prediction.

‘It would be more water than we’ve ever had,’ he said. ‘I’ve worked here more than 25 years and I never thought I’d see this.'”  Read more.