00713554

Component

http://onlinepubs.trb.org...trr/1995/1483/1483-002.pdf

https://scholar.google.co...ouse&publication_year=1995

A physical model of the Middle Mississippi River was used to perform quantitative analyses of the effects of federal levees on flood heights. Contrary to some opinions by the general public, these tests showed that today's stage-frequency relationship at the St. Louis gage is not greatly different than that existing before the onset of changes to the river by humans, beginning in the 1820s. Federal levees result in increased flood heights upstream of the protected area, but these increases have been fully offset by reductions resulting from federal flood control reservoirs for all floods in recent years. The occurrence of the Great Flood of 1993 further confirmed these findings and continued to demonstrate the value of the federal levees and reservoirs. Federal levees are estimated to have increased flood heights at St. Louis by 0.9 to 1.2 m (3 to 4 ft) during the crest of the 1993 flood; however, federal reservoirs reduced flood levels at St. Louis by an equal amount, counterbalancing the levee increases. An estimated 19 billion dollars in flood damage was prevented by the federal levees and reservoirs throughout the Upper Mississippi and Missouri River Basins in 1993, a savings of more than the total construction cost of the projects. The model tests also found that the key historical flood discharges of the 1844 and 1903 floods, used in the design of the current levee system, may be overestimated by up to 33%.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1483, 1993 Midwest Floods and Water Quality Best Management Practices. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved

01399791

English

p. 11-17

1995

Transportation Research Record

Figures (4) ; References (11) ; Tables (2)

Flood damage; Floods; Levees; Prevention; Quantitative analysis; Reservoirs

Mississippi River Basin flood, 1993

Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; Marine Transportation; Security and Emergencies; I26: Water Run-off - Freeze-thaw

TRIS, TRB

Nov 16 1995 12:00AM

• CORRELATIONS BETWEEN HEAVY METALS AND SUSPENDED SOLIDS IN HIGHWAY RUNOFF: IMPLICATIONS FOR CONTROL STRATEGIES
• CURRENT WATER QUALITY BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES DESIGN GUIDANCE
• EFFECTS OF STORM WATER REGULATIONS ON COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
• ENHANCING CONTAMINANT REMOVAL IN STORMWATER DETENTION BASINS BY COAGULATION
• HYDRAULICS OF FLARED END SECTIONS FOR PIPE CULVERTS
• IMPACTS OF 1993 UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN FLOODS ON HIGHWAY SYSTEMS
• JULY 1993 FLOOD DAMAGE TO US-71 BRIDGE OVER BRUSHY CREEK, CARROLL COUNTY, IOWA: CASE STUDY
• MAGNITUDE AND FREQUENCY OF 1993 FLOOD VOLUMES IN UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN
• MAGNITUDE AND FREQUENCY OF PEAK DISCHARGES FOR MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN FLOOD OF 1993
• MOBILIZATION OF MAJOR AND TRACE CONSTITUENTS OF HIGHWAY RUNOFF IN GROUNDWATER POTENTIALLY CAUSED BY DEICING CHEMICAL MIGRATION
• NATIONAL EVALUATION OF WATER QUALITY ISSUES FOR HIGHWAY PLANNING
• SCOUR MEASUREMENTS AT BRIDGE SITES DURING 1993 UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN FLOOD
• SELECTION OF FLOOD FREQUENCY ANALYSIS PROCEDURE FOR EVALUATING FLOOD-ESTIMATION MODELS
• WATER LEVEL STATISTICS FOR DESIGN OF TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES IN COASTAL LOUISIANA