The Mississippi River never floods it banks on it own accord. The entire length is under control of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the forms of Locks and Dams control the flow of water from the headwaters in Northern Minnesota all the way down and well into the Gulf of Mexico.<br><br>Where as no control of the river would cause a variety of cities mainly New Orleans being completely wiped out by the surge of water after a heavy snow in the North. Controlling the flood waters by causing areas know as "Flood Plains" to back up keeps the effected cities from extinction.<br><br>Although the BLM has official maps indicating where and to what extent the deliberate flood waters will occupy. Land developers manage to get people to invest in the land. It is not a matter of if it will flood, but when. It is all explained in fine print in any contract one signs when buy said land but doesn't actually read.<br><br>The local governments along the river get collect various forms of revenue from such sales in the forms of construction and building permits, licenses of businesses, not to mention taxes of all types.<br><br>Communities have been built and rebuilt for years along the river in flood plains and until it cost the local and state government and or insurance companies more than the revenues collected. Communities will get to stay.