Brad Johnson

Billions in damage

Wonk Room blogger on the climate crisis, energy policy, and building a green economy. , May 16, 11.

Tagged with environment, sustainability, climate change, pollution, flooding

“Flooding along the Mississippi River has set a new water level record,” according to the National Weather Service. “The massive flood churning its way down the Mississippi River will go down in history for its catastrophic, multi-billion dollar impact on the Midwestern economy.” “Losses in Arkansas are estimated at more than $500 million, according to the state Farm Bureau. In Memphis, where the river crested Tuesday, damage was estimated at $320 million. Agricultural losses in Mississippi, including grain and catfish farms, could hit $800 million,” economist John Michael Riley, a commodities specialist at Mississippi State University, told USA Today.

The catastrophic flood, which is now forcing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to flood thousands of acres of Louisiana in order to protect Baton Rouge and New Orleans, is primarily the result of record rainfall in the Mississippi watershed. Record amounts of precipitation fell in the central United States from February to April, with record April rains in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

This is precisely what scientists have warned would come about as greenhouse pollution warms the air and oceans, and industrial agriculture worsens runoff. In 1999, scientists found a clear trend of increased flooding of the Mississippi River basin because of increasing precipitation. In 2000, the federal government’s Climate Assessment warned that “the projected increase in very heavy precipitation events will likely lead to increased flash flooding and worsen agricultural and other non-point source pollution as more frequent heavy rains wash pollutants into rivers and lakes,” citing the catastrophic 1993 flood of the Mississippi River as an example. The federal government’s 2009 climate assessment report warned that greenhouse pollution will cause “more frequent flooding” in the Midwest, including the Mississippi River. The EPA endangerment finding, which most of the politicians in Mississippi basin voted to overturn, similarly warned of “greater flood risk“:

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The states suffering from the flooding are represented by politicians who have voted to disregard the threat of a polluted climate system:

ARKANSAS: All six members of the Arkansas congressional delegation voted in April to block the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing greenhouse pollution rules.

LOUISIANA: Eight out of nine members of the Louisiana congressional delegation, including both senators, voted in April to block the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing greenhouse pollution rules.

MISSISSIPPI: Five out of six members of the Mississippi congressional delegation, including both senators, voted in April to block the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing greenhouse pollution rules.

MISSOURI: Nine out of 11 members of the Missouri congressional delegation, including both senators, voted in April to block the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing greenhouse pollution rules.

TENNESSEE: Nine out of 11 members of the Tennessee congressional delegation, including both senators, voted in April to block the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing greenhouse pollution rules.