There are seven states in this nation that are responsible for gathering the water from 41 percent of the land area of the U.S., conveying it safely through the Mississippi River and introducing it to the Gulf of Mexico. More than 30 million Americans live in the Mississippi River floodplain, the largest inland waterway ports in the world are located in this floodway, and the citizens throughout the footprint of the Mississippi River watershed have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in local property taxes as their local cost-share in order to live in this area without the threat of the annual floods which occurred throughout the Mississippi River Basin prior to 1928.

The largest flood on record since 1927 has just receded and because “all hands were on deck,” a major disaster was avoided. The flood of 2011 tested every engineering design that was carefully crafted in to the Mississippi River and Tributaries Act of 1928. The plan of 1928 is currently 89 percent complete, and without debate, the test has been taken and the grade is hanging on the teacher’s door. The Corps of Engineers and our two levee boards in the State of Mississippi have passed the ultimate test.

We passed the test because the Corps and levee boards did the job years before, when there was not a flood to fight. They certainly did their job when there was a flood to fight. The flood of 2011 is certain to go down as the high water mark in terms of performance by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the two Delta levee boards.

Thank God for their abilities and perseverance.

Chip Morgan

Delta Council