May was a bad month for a whole heap of folks living along the Mississippi River and his tributaries. I've seen water, DEEP water, where I've never seen water in all the years that I've lived off and on in the delta. Our county was given disaster status due to the storms and floods during May. Most of the damage done was to farm land that was ready to be planted or had already been planted. There were also a few places in our county where flood waters got into people's homes as well as some road closures.
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| There were roads closed near many of the tributaries that eventually emptied into the Mississippi River, but couldn't because Old Man River was way over flood stage. In Memphis, the river was only 1/10 of an inch away from the record flooding of 1937. |
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| This is a field. It looked like a huge lake, it seemed to go on forever. |
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| Another field and a flooded house in Lee county, AR |
I was surprised to learn about the huge line of cars and people to be found at the Department of Human Services in Helena-West Helena, awaiting their turn at a portion of the food allowances being doled out for families affected by the disasters. The few houses damaged by storms or flood surely didn't come to the number that showed up for aid. A friend stopped on the road and asked one lady where she lived and how bad was the damage to her property and the lady replied, "It didn't get hurt, but you don't have to have damage to qualify for the free food allowance." What?????????
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| This guy and the one below built levees around their houses to keep the flooded creek from getting into their houses. |
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| Weird storm clouds. |
It seems that bad luck and bad weather sure seems to bring out the greedy and ugly in some folks. I just don't understand it.
