Army Engineers Open Spillway

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The swollen Mississippi River rose to its highest level in nearly 75 years near Memphis, Tenn., Monday, inundating low-lying neighborhoods and acres of farmland and pushing up wholesale gasoline prices as fuel terminals along the waterway closed.

Authorities warned residents in about 1,350 homes across Shelby County to move to higher ground, and more than 380 people took refuge in four area shelters amid a deluge fed by runoff from melting snow and heavy spring rains. The river was expected to crest at a height of 48 feet late Monday or early Tuesday, just shy of the city's record of 48.7 feet set in 1937. The river's typical depth this time of year is 28 feet to 30 feet.

Floodwalls and levees along the river showed no signs of stress. But the Wolf and Loosahatchie rivers, less-fortified local tributaries, backed up as they met a "wall of water" at the Mississippi, a county official said.

Downtown Memphis sits atop a bluff and remained dry, as did the nearby musical landmark Graceland. And the floods weren't expected to halt Monday night's scheduled NBA playoff game in the city.

But other parts of the metropolitan area bordering the Mississippi have suffered flooding, including at least four trailer parks. County officials said about 3,500 homes could be affected by flooding.

Some poorer neighborhoods in the northern part of the city were underwater, with raw sewage leaking from backed up sewers and pools of trash eddying in the current. But most homes appeared untouched as children walked home from schools.

"There is no concern of a levee failing, no concern of a levee overtopping," said Steven Barry, chief of emergency operations at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Memphis district.