Climate and water

The Mississippi flood of 1993

the Mississippi River (Fig) is the sixth largest river in the world in terms of discharge, with a freshwater discharge onto the continental shelf of 580 cubic km yr^-1
it is 2,320 miles long and drains 41 of the land area of the continental United States

History

satellite pictures of the river at Glasgow, Missouri (The Great Flood of 1993)
flood of 1993 in the upper Mississippi River Basin was an unprecedented hydrometeorological event
in June and July (and somewhat into the fall) of that year, the Mississippi River basin in the midwestern United States experienced anomalously high rainfall which produced record flooding.
the cause of the high precipitation was a persistent atmospheric weather pattern consisting of a quasi-stationary jet stream positioned over the central part of the nation. As a result, moist air flowing north from the Gulf of Mexico converged with unseasonably cool, dry air moving south from Canada
in June and July, close to 14 inches of precipitation (averaged over the upper Mississippi River Basin) was observed, significantly higher than average (approximately 8 inches)
the fall of 1992 and spring of 1993 were already quite wet as well, subsurface was saturated
at 45 USGS stations, the discharge rate exceeded the 100 year flood value
flood lasted very long, many areas stayed flooded for weeks!
estimates of total damages in the Midwest from weather events during 1993 range between

Over half of these were agricultural damages, with the remaining being primarily to residences, businesses, public facilities, or transportation (Damages compiled by USACE)
100,000 home were damaged, 50% of those due to groundwater or sewer backup
thirty-eight deaths were attributed directly to the flood
warm, nutrient rich water resulted in hypoxic conditions in the Gulf of Mexico
many levees broke, as evident in the satellite pictures