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Mississippi River Tragedies A Century of Unnatural Disaster / Christine A. Klein and Sandra B. Zellmer.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Klein, Christine A., 1956-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- United States. Army. Corps of Engineers--History.
- United States. Army. Corps of Engineers.
- United States.
- Flood damage prevention--Government policy--United States.
- Floodplain management--Government policy--United States.
- Hydraulic engineering--Mississippi River Valley--History.
- Floods--Mississippi River Valley--History.
- Flood control--Mississippi River--History.
- Hydraulic engineering.
- Floods.
- Floodplain management--Government policy.
- Flood damage prevention--Government policy.
- Flood control.
- Flood damage prevention.
- Floodplain management.
- Mississippi River Valley.
- Mississippi River.
- Mississippi-Gebiet.
- Genre:
- History.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (280 p.)
- Manufacture:
- Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2021
- Place of Publication:
- London : New York University Press, [2014]
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- "American engineers have done astounding things to bend the Mississippi River to their will: forcing one of its tributaries to flow uphill, transforming over a thousand miles of roiling currents into a placid staircase of water, and wresting the lower half of the river apart from its floodplain. American law has aided and abetted these feats. But despite our best efforts, so-called 'natural disasters' continue to strike the Mississippi basin, as raging floodwaters decimate waterfront communities and abandoned towns literally crumble into the Gulf of Mexico. In some places, only the tombstones remain, leaning at odd angles as the underlying soil erodes away. Mississippi River Tragedies reveals that it is seductively deceptive?but horribly misleading?to call such catastrophes 'natural'" -- From Amazon.com.
- Contents:
- Introduction : disasters, natural and otherwise
- An unnatural river : how we got here
- A decade of record floods (1903-1913) : the federal government tackles floods, but with levees only
- The flood of 1927 : sheltered by immunity, the corps ventures beyond the "Colossal blunder" of the levees-only policy
- The flood of 1937 : the corps builds floodways
- Mid-century floods in the Missouri River Basin : Congress promises something for almost everyone
- Hurricane Betsy of 1965 : the corps fortifies New Orleans and Congress insures floodplain residents
- The flood of 1993 : revealing the moral hazard of subsidized flood insurance
- Hurricane Katrina of 2005 : revealing the importance of coastal wetlands
- Ruined lives : trouble rains down on minorities and the poor
- Double-takes : charging taxpayers, twice
- Conclusion : how law has hurt, how law can help.
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on print version record.
- ISBN:
- 9781479807475
- 1479807478
- OCLC:
- 871257423
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