Study: Flood Control Engineering Likely Has Worsened Floods
A new research paper published in the journal Nature says flood control work in the Mississippi River and its tributaries likely has made floods worse in Mississippi and Louisiana. Researchers studied 500 years of data from tree rings and sediment in oxbow lakes and determined that the Mississippi River has flooded more often and poured more water into those states over the past 150 years than any previous period. They estimate that climate change is responsible for about one-quarter of the difference, with the rest attributed to engineering, such as building levees and creating a straighter, narrow channel for navigation.