Historic US floods turns deadly

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

Perilous Times and Climate Change

Historic US floods turns deadly

May 20, 2011 - 11:24AM

AFP

Historic flooding along the Mississippi River has turned deadly after a 69-year-old man pulled from the floodwater died in hospital.

Walter Cook was trying to follow a fence around a car lot in Vicksburg, Mississippi, when he was slipped and fell into the 1.2 metre-deep water on Tuesday morning.

Firefighters pulled him from the water and managed to resuscitate him, but he died in hospital early on Thursday, officials said.
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The worst floods to hit the central United States in more than 70 years have swallowed up thousands of homes, farms and roads from Illinois southward to Louisiana.

Officials have erected temporary levees and opened spillways to protect towns and cities from the slow-moving floods but warn that the mighty river will remain above flood stage for weeks to come.

"This is a marathon, this is not a sprint," said Major General William Grisoli of the US Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the flood protection system.

"We continue to operate this system, the Mississippi River and tributary system, deliberately and safely to protect lives and reduce risks to property," he said in a conference call.

"And so far, we've been very fortunate as the system is working as designed, and we feel very comfortable."

In Vicksburg, two firefighters on a boat patrol spotted Cook clinging to a fence in chest-deep water on Tuesday morning, local television station WAPT reported.

Officials said Cook was floating in the water when they reached him. They pulled Cook into the boat and took him to the hospital.

"At that time, he was talking to us, letting us know what was going on. But at the same time, he was wet and disoriented," Vicksburg Fire Chief Charles Atkins told WAPT.

Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey said Cook died of "hypoxic brain injury due to drowning", but he'd asked for an autopsy to confirm the cause of death, WAPT reported.

The slow-moving flood has given people plenty of time to pack up their homesand get out of the way, but the rising waters are still quite dangerous.

Officials have repeatedly warned people to watch out for snakes and other dangerous wildlife displaced by the floods and to beware of other threats hidden by the water.

Nearly 400 homes in the town and a handful of businesses have been overtaken by the floodwater - some up to the rooftops.

"I never thought we'd be guarding water but we are," Vicksburg police lieutenant Bobby Stewart told Agence France-Presse.

"We've finally crested but we're waiting for a slow fall now. It looks like it's going to be here a while with us."

Thousands of residents of Louisiana's Atchafalaya River basin are being evacuated after the Army Corps decided to flood the area to relieve pressure on Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Just about everyone in the fishing village of Butte La Rose has moved to higher ground, but brothers Tommy and Keith Girouard plan to ride it out on their houseboat.

"We'll be just fine," Tommy said. "My house? Well, that's another story. I might lose it."

But the brothers say they were blessed that they had plenty of warning and were able to empty out Tommy's house and stock up on generators, food and water.

"It's not like a tsunami or a tornado, where you lose everything in one lick. You can save everything," Keith said.

Swollen by heavy rains last month and the melting of a thick winter snow pack, the rising waters have has eclipsed records set in the epochal floods of 1927.