SAVING DOWNSTREAM CITIES AND REFINERIES IS THE GOAL AS MISSISSIPPI RIVER CRESTS IN MEMPHIS AND FLOOD WATERS MOVE SOUTHWARD

1
SAVING DOWNSTREAM CITIES AND REFINERIES ISTHE
GOAL AS MISSISSIPPI RIVER CRESTS IN MEMPHIS AND
FLOOD WATERS MOVE SOUTHWARD

• MONDAY, MAY 9, 2011

Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster
Reduction, University of North Carolina, USA
2
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER LOOKING MORE LIKE AN OCEAN
THAN A RIVER
3
MISSISSIPPI RIVER CRESTED TODAY IN MEMPHIS AREA

• The Mississippi River crested today around 700
  pm in Memphis, Tennessee, just cm below its
  74-year-old record, as a bulge of water moved
  southward towards other cities and the refineries
  in Louisiana.

4
RIVER CRESTED WITHIN A FEW CM OF THE 1937 RECORD
5
THE WATER A POTENTIAL HEALTH RISK

• The Mississippi River flood water, which is
  contaminated by the pesticides, industrial
  pollutants, and debris acquired as it drained 41
  percent of the Nation, and now is full of snakes,
  represents a health risk.

6
DEBRIS-LADEN WATER MAY 9TH
7
MEMPHIS BARGE TRAFFIC HALTED MAY 6, 2011
8
MEMPHIS BEALE STREET UNDER WATER
9
MEMPHIS, TN RESIDENTS WARNED OF NEED TO EVACUATE
MAY 6, 2011
10
STRANDED PETS
11
SATARTIA, MS HIGH WATERS INUNDATE HIGHWAY MAY
9TH
12
NORCO, LA BONNET CARRE SPILLWAY OPENED MAY 9TH
13
NEW ORLEANS SPILLWAY OPENED CITY MAY 9TH
14
CITIES AND OIL REFINERIES IN LOUISIANA AT RISK

• 2011s flood waters have the potential to
  inundate cities (e.g., New Orleans) and the 11
  oil refineries in the New Orleans-to-Baton Rouge
  region, which have a combined capacity of 2.5
  million barrels a day.

15
THE WORST CASE FOR OIL REFINERIES IN LOUISIANA

• The worst case is for flood waters to inundate
  the refineries and shut them down for several
  months, as was the case after Hurricane Katrina.

16
SHORT-TERM SOLUTION

• Controlled release of water that will flood
  farmland and rural areas instead of cities like
  New Orleans and the 11 refineries near New
  Orleans and Baton Rouge is a short-term solution
  to reduce the risk.