Why are U.S. rivers flooding so much - is it because of climate?

Question

changes and global warming?

Answer 1

c**p, on speculation it's bogus "BS", FEMA is requiring me to have flood insurance because there's a cow pond 200ft from my property....never had a flood in this area since recorded history. They screwed up in Louisiana, and now they are over compensating for being idiots. No it's just weather, and has nothing to do with climate. Just ask yourself this question...has flooding ever happen before?

Answer 2

Bob should know better but then again he is an alarmist.  The flooding is the result of rain.  It is no more complicated than that.  It is a weather pattern.  I thought we were supposed to have drought.  That is one problem with alarmists.  Drought in Atlanta will be blamed on global warming. Flooding in the midwest is global warming.  To assume it is about global warming is ridiculous.  To translate, American prosperity didn't cause it.  And alarmist think they have science on their side.  Jeesh

Answer 3

The devastation this time had to do with a bunch of breached levees.  They're already dry and are waiting as levees amazingly break all on their own after the rains--they must be made out of mud!

Answer 4

The Mississippi has flooded MANY times in my 61 year lifetime--- actually it is good example OF:

a. If we cannot even stop the Mississippi from flooding (repeatedly) using all of our technology

then

b. What makes you think we can stop GLOBAL warming?

Answer 5

It's hard to say.  It's a mistake to attribute any single weather event to global warming, it could just be the weather.

But it's a "500-year" flood, one that would be expected every 500 years.  The last one occurred -  15 years ago.

Two "500-year" floods this close together could be just bad luck.  But, it's more likely to be global warming.

Answer 6

River flooding has been and continues to be a natural phenomena.  Man.... in all of his (our) divine wisdom decided years ago to 'manage' river channels for purposes of navigation as well as to protect farmland from frequent flooding.  This was accomplished by straightening channels and flanking them with earthen levees.  Over time.... communities were built on the dry side of these levees.  As more time went by, we have discovered that not all flooding can be prevented.  Levees have failed in the past and they will..... from time to time.... fail again.... but not due to 'man-did-it' global warming.  Simply put.... sometimes rain-swollen rivers exceed the design of the levee, or poor maintenance or initial design could be responsible for failure.  

One example of serious flooding occurred in 1927 when the Mississippi River breached levees and flooded 27,000 square miles, killing 246 people in seven states and displacing 700,000 people.

Answer 7

actually bob... i would like to correct that statement a bit.. :D a 500 year flood is not a flood that happens every 500 years, it is a plain that has a 1 in 500 chance of flooding. it is just really really bad luck that they have had 2 major floods like that in the past 20 years.

Answer 8

The rivers have always flooded when it rains too much.  Global warming has nothing to do with it.  The mighty Mississippi has flooded badly, several times in my life time.  Usually about every 10-15 years.

Answer 9

Record snows

Answer 10

partly because of the climate.... I mean, climate is why it's raining so much, but part of the flooding deal is the 500 year floods, i'll explain:

the last big 500 year flood was 15 or so years ago, but they're kind of meant to be every 500 years... 500 years ago the houses that are here today wouldn't have been there. Where it's flooding was probably a field or forest and the flooding was just a natural way to start over. It's natural, but how people have their houses and the drainage (getting rid of the natural drainage) It makes seem like a big deal. Long ago they understood to build structures on a hill where they wouldn't get wet, now they odn't so they all get mad and make a big deal when they get consequences from their mistakes... it's partly climate but it's all natural.