More residents were warned yesterday to get out of the way of the raging Mississippi River as it surged towards a near-record crest in its southern reaches, prompting authorities in Louisiana to divert some of the flood waters. “This is the time to gather all important items and be ready to leave your property,” Shelby county mayor Mark Luttrell said, noting that the river should crest late last night inches short of a 1937 record.
Almost 400 people were staying in Memphis shelters with much of the flooding occurring on Mud Island, a peninsula jutting into the river, and in developments on either end of the city. Backed- up tributaries threatened to engulf more homes.
Memphis, a city of 920,000, was depending on a network of levees and, if necessary, pumps to keep it dry, the mayor said.