The Flood crisis in M.S. Delta

Managing Conflict through Mediation during Flood Crisis in the M.S. Delta

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Introduction

The Flood crisis in M.S. Delta has been a big problem for the people near the river. These people have been victimized many times because the area many times receives heavy rains hence causing floods. The floods used to occur after twenty years, but due to climate change, the floods occur at an average of three years. This means that after three years, people in the lower Mississippi have to count losses. In the last eleven years, the area has been hit by four major floods in 2008, 2011, 2016, and 2018 which extend to 2019 (Chung, 2016). The row of floods in the M.S. Delta is long, with the flood of 1927 and 2018-2019 taking a longer duration.

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In 1927, more than 630,000 people were affected by the floods; 94% of the victims were the people in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and more specifically on Mississippi Delta (Chung, 2016). Thousands of people were displaced from their homes, and great value properties were destroyed, including crops.

In 2019, the floods occurred again and caused significant damage to the people living near the river. Again, people’s homes were submerged, property destroyed, and crops swept away due to the heavy rains and snow melting that caused the floods.

After the disastrous floods of 1927, the central government of the United States assigned the primary obligation of flood protection, especially in the lower Mississippi, to the U.S. Corps of Engineers who, embarked on a significant program of levee strengthening and major construction of floodways (Madu et al., 2018).

However, the U.S. Corps of Engineers seems to have not done enough to protect against floods because since then, flood crises are still being reported in the area, and residents there have been complaining of the losses they incur when the floods happen. Moreover, relief food is not enough compensation for the victims because the government has often ignored them; hence they incur great losses when the river breaks its banks.