Flood in Washington County, Mississippi

Flooding along the Mississippi River caused extensive flooding of low lying farmland and urban areas around the river. All of the flood waters were within the mainline levee. Sixty one homes were destroyed, 18 sustained major damage and 63 sustained minor damage. One mobile home and 1 business were destroyed, with 19 businesses sustaining minor damage. Twenty four roads had major damage, and 3 public buildings were destroyed.

The flood of 2011 had its birth around the end of March when heavy rainfall of 2 to 5 inches fell across Arkansas, Southeast Missouri, and the Ohio River Valley. The Mississippi River crested well above flood stage at Cairo around the middle of March and at flood stage at Vicksburg around the end of the month. The river receded until early April when 2 to 5 inches of rain fell over North Kentucky and the Ohio River prompting the river to rise once again. Several moderate to heavy rainfall events occurred during the month adding to the already overflowing tributaries of the Ohio River. Excessively heavy rainfall from 5 to 20 inches occurred from April 22nd to the 27th across northern Arkansas, southern Missouri, and up the Ohio River Valley. This produced the greatest surge in the river levels. During the following week, the first week of May, an additional 3 to 10 inches of rainfall occurred across Arkansas and southern Missouri, north to the Ohio River Valley. Rainfall for the two week period was over 800 percent of normal. These rainfall events, along with a moderate to major flood moving down the Upper Mississippi River from a late March snow melt combined to produce river crests above the 1937, 1973, and the 2008 flood levels. Record flooding occurred at Vicksburg and Natchez. The backwater areas up the Yazoo River exceeded all but the 1927 flood levels and ended up exceeding the 2008 river flood crests by 6 to 7 feet.