“The Mississippi River is going to flood.”

Yep, those were the words I heard a number of days ago as the river levels began to rise in Missouri, pushing water over the river banks and flooding roads, neighborhoods and shutting down interstates.

“The Mississippi River is going to flood.”

That was the word I got as I started watching national news reports of families rushing to get sand bags to save their homes, save their businesses and do whatever they could to hold back the Mississippi River.

I was raised in an area in South Alabama. My childhood home was along the banks of Fish River, a small river that feeds into Weeks Bay and then into Mobile Bay and then, ultimately, into the Gulf of Mexico.

What Fish River and the Mississippi River share in common is that both are categorized as rivers. That’s it.

The portion of Fish River I grew up was one where you could canoe easily upstream and downstream. Boats would have to carefully navigate their way through the curves and overhanging trees.

In fact, there were plenty of times shooting my BB gun that I was able to clear the river to the other side.

Fish River would get out of its banks from time to time, but when that happened, there wasn’t a national television crew on hand to cover the impact. Jim Cantore was not setting up shop to cover the impact.

Only once in my families more than three decades living on the river did the water ever reach the house and that was in 1996 after Hurricane Danny dumped nearly two feet of rain on the area in 24 hours; an event not likely to ever happen again.

That is why the current events surrounding the current flooding of the Mississippi, its expected crest on Jan. 15 and the impact it will have on this area is so fascinating.

With the rise in water there the livelihoods of so many are threatened. Homes are in the path of the flood waters. There are herds of cattle in danger and businesses at risk and unlike little floods of little rivers, there is really nothing that can be done to stop what is an overwhelming power of the “Mighty Mississippi.”

I have been amazed at the preparations made by city, county, state and federal officials. It has appeared to be a well-orchestrated effort built on good planning, solid engineering and a history of experience.

The Mississippi River will crest next week, likely well below the historic levels reached in 2011, but in no way should this flood be minimized. To those affected and harmed by the flood, there is nothing that can minimize the events in their lives.

It is important we continue to pray for those who are in the path of the rising waters and do what we can to support those organizations lined up to offer support to those harmed by this event.

And, to those from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, all the way to the volunteers stuffing sandbags and placing them around the Old Depot Museum, we offer our thanks.

I now understand Mark Twain when he wrote, “One who knows the Mississippi, will promptly aver — not aloud, but to himself — that ten thousand River Commissions, with the mines of the world at their back cannot tame that lawless stream, cannot curb it or confine it, cannot say to it, Go here, or Go there, and make it obey; cannot save a shore which it has sentenced; cannot bar its path with an obstruction which it will not tear down, dance over, and laugh at.”