Talk:Great Mississippi Flood of 1927

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): 225em.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 22:40, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

St. Bernard Parish
If I can recall correctly from the New York Times article on the subject, the break only flooded the lower end of the Parish. In 1927 St. Bernard was still mostly farmland. Arabi and the Jackson Barracks area of the parish were still dry. I don't know about Chalmette, but the Islenos and African communities downriver in Delacroix and Plaquemines would have gotten the worst of the flooding. --Kunzite 06:40, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
 * It certainly didn't flood "all" of St. Bernard; I changed it to much. BTW, I read in a recent New Yorker article about the disappearing wetlands that the flooding from the dynamited breach deposited some 6 inches of river silt and clays on a good sized portion of St. Bernard, so it may have actually had some benificial effects on some of the wetlands. -- Infrogmation 02:19, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Disputed tag
I removed the disputed tag; if something is still disputed, please explain, thanks. -- Infrogmation 02:19, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Flood Control Act of 1928
Under "See also" is "Flood Control Act of 1928." It probably should be an external link. The Army Corps of Engineers has re-published the Act as Appendix E in the _Mississippi River Commission's Upon Their Shoulders: A history of the Mississippi River Commission from its inception through the advent of the modern Mississippi River and Tributaries Project_ by Charles A. Camillo and Matthew T. Pearcy. The book is online, and the Flood Control Act of 1928 is at . Filé gumbo 18:31, 31 August 2006 (UTC)filé gumbo


 * That's a subject we could probably use an article on. -- Infrogmation
 * Added wiki ref for this; it may soon become an article as it is also referenced under Flood Control ActDon&#39;tKnowItAtAll (talk) 13:12, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Affected Areas
I think there may be a few missing states in the affected areas section: Oklahoma and Missouri. The listing of affected states, referenced from a full-text copy of the February 1928 issue of "Congressional Digest", includes the present list, plus the two additional states. Heidi Fitzgerald 04:09, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I've added Missouri to the list, and an external link to an Army Engineers publication that mentions two levee breaches that flooded 1.2 million acres there. At the moment, cannot find a "Congressional Digest"-based web page mentioning Oklahoma flooding. Publius3 (talk) 05:37, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Deliberate destruction of levee at Caernarvon
John Barry devotes several chapters of _Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America_ to discussing the decision to dynamite the levee, detailing the key players, timeline, and motives. I do not know how to add the citation to the page, unfortunately, as I am a novice at wikipedia updates. Barry claims the motives were largely financial: the flooding of rural St. Bernard Parish would generate lower financial losses than a flood in wealthy New Orleans. Jehaun 14:32, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050912/12leadall.b.htm

History repeats itself. 74.131.208.18 (talk) 07:31, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Most destructive flood?
I'm not certain that this is the most destructive flood in history. Afterall, it is pretty obvious that most of the damage attributed to Hurricane Katrina was flood damage and certainly Hurricane Katrina was more destructive than this. I don't have any sources to confirm any of this, so I will leave the information in the article, but it is something that may need to be changed. Life, Liberty, Property (talk) 13:28, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Italicized the word river under most destructive flood description. Don&#39;tKnowItAtAll (talk) 13:13, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Slanted history
There is no citations of proof to back up the racial claims being made in the article and there for should be removed until verifiable sources can be obtained. There is no reason racially divisive opinions should be in the article from people that wseren't even there at the time to witness said claims. I have tried to put a disclaimer in it but it was removed on the basis that it didn't belong in the article, puhlease. If a black man was shot by a white cop during this period, it should be discussed as long as there are records to back it up. I find the entire part of the article suspect and think any cultural, political commentary have no place in a page that specifically talks about the flood and the resulting damage. I looked it up out of curiousity to find out if the place I lived in had the risk of being flooded by the Mississippi river. I was not aware that I was going to be barraged by unresearched racial claims that have no relevence. I am not advocating the erasure of history, only that the unsourced claims be removed as they are clearly there to cause racial division, fuel hatred and animosity between races and just general malcontent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Heavenstobitsy (talk • contribs) 18:47, 10 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I agree that more inline citations, particularly from the externally linked PBS sources are needed, but I see no reason to remove this material. My first test, of the shooting death of a black laborer by a white police officer was easily verified and the PBS sources detail a host of race relations problems and consequences. I'll do what I can with the time I have but anyone else is welcome to help. Abby Kelleyite (talk) 21:50, 15 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I think I have now added citations for all the material you flagged and tried to add a little framing. Feel free to improve the article by adding relevant WP:RS material to balance any "slant" you still perceive.Abby Kelleyite (talk) 16:15, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

It reads more like a history book. Thank you. I was more concerned about the undertone (and lack of info as to why a man was shot and killed) and in times like these, the last thing we need is a rewriting of history or we will be doomed to repeat what actually happened because we don't know the truth, or the truth is being veiled for a hidden agenda. Heavenstobitsy (talk) 02:52, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

Events
The article had said in the second paragraph of this section: "Flooding overtopped the levees, causing Mounds Landing to break with more than double the water volume of Niagara Falls. The Mississippi River broke out of its levee system in 145 places and flooded 27,000 square miles (70,000 km2). This water flooded an area 50 mi (80 km) wide and more than 100 mi (160 km) long. The area was inundated up to a depth of 9 m (30 ft). The flood caused over US$400 million in damages ($5,623,529,411 in 2016 [1]) and killed 246 people in seven states."

I have edited this information as it is repetitive, and some of the facts that are repeated are repeated incorrectly within this one paragraph. Either they are incorrectly repeated, or it is not stated clearly enough, which might cause confusion. There are also no citations for any of the facts listed in the paragraph. I researched to see if the figures listed were correct, and they are not. I have made corrections have peer-reviewed sources to confirm.

I will change the paragraph to:

"Flooding peaked in the Lower Mississippi in Arkansas, near Mounds Landing and Arkansas City, and broke along the river in at least 145 places. The water flooded more than 70,000 square kilometers of land, and left more than 700,000 people homeless.  Approximately 500 people died as a result of flooding.  Monetary damages due to flooding reached approximately $1 billion, which was one-third of the federal budget in 1927.  If the event were to have occurred in 2007, the damages would total around $130 billion or $160 billion (measured in 2007 U.S. dollars)." Careschroeder (talk) 02:29, 27 October 2016 (UTC)

Tupelo
"Tupelo" is mentioned as beeing written by Albert King, Pops Staples, & Steve Cropper in 1969 and beeing covered by Nick Cave in 1985. The link to the song leads only to the Nick Cave song which doesn't mention any other writing credits. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.156.31.170 (talk) 06:38, 7 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Two different songs. The 1985 "Tupelo" song written by Nick Cave, Barry Adamson and Mick Harvey, relates to the birth of Elvis Presley in Tupelo during a violent rainstorm.  Nothing to do with the 'Great Mississippi Flood of 1927'. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 15:05, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

Sources Lacking
The final paragraph in particular is extremely tendentious, p.o.v., and basically unsubstantiated. The chief work cited is a privately published screed by totally unknown academics. Wiki should do better than this. 71.115.17.210 (talk) 20:06, 11 July 2024 (UTC)
 * What exactly is stopping you from rectifying this situation ? Whingeing solves nothing. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 20:13, 11 July 2024 (UTC)