Climate Crisis Fueling Mississippi River’s Historic Floods from
Wildlife Promise The Mississippi River is experiencing its
second “500-year flood” since 1993. That’s no freak occurrence –
it’s a result of man-made carbon pollution changing our climate.
“All extreme weather events are now subject to human influence,”
said Dr. Peter Gleick, a climate & water scientist and president
of the Pacific Institute, at a Capitol Hill briefing on Monday
organized by the American Meteorological Society. “We are
loading the dice and painting higher numbers on them.”
Forecasters expect the Mississippi River to top out in Memphis
today just inches below the record level: The Mississippi River,
the largest U.S. river system, is forecast to crest today in
Memphis, Tennessee, just below its 74-year-old record, as a
bulge of water moves south toward the riverside refineries in
Louisiana. The river is forecast to reach 48 feet in Memphis at
7 p.m., compared with the old mark of 48.7 feet, according to a
revised National Weather S