New Madrid fault

May 14, 2011 32 Replies

As we all know, Mississippi's flood defenses are full right now and the authorities are flooding Peter to help Paul.



It is all good and well. But, if an earthquake occurs that is similar to what happened in New Madrid in 19th century (see Wikipedia), pretty much all levees will collapse and a enormous area would be flooded in an instant.



i

Some particular Christians say the beginning of the end of the world and the Rapture will start, I believe, on 5-20. Anyway, somewhere close to that date. They say it will begin with a very big earthquake. And the river will still be pretty high in a week. The New Madrid quake was huge. The course of the Mississippi river was changed. It actually flowed backward for a bit. Time will tell... ERS

Well, even if the worst earthquake occurs at the worst possible moment, I do not see how flooding of a couple of states would amount to the end of the world.

i

Speak for yourself , I live just a couple of miles from that river ! Been pretty bad already around here, last thing we need is a 'quake to shake things up!

If I don't get out with my stuff it's damn sure a bad thing !!

Ever notice that nice rich soil? Kinda like living close to the ocean where the whole landscape is flat, that's cause it floods. All I have is freezing to death and need to hang a couple of mirrors that are just leaning against the walls. Maybe North Carolina next time.

SW

I think we're actually about 65-70 feet higher than the river at our place . And truly we're about 4 miles from the river , though the Wolf River is only a couple of miles . I'm not nearly as worried about the flooding as I am about the potential for looters... but that may change soon too , it's starting to look like this is the year of The Big Move . We're both unemployed now , and looking for jobs up in north central Arkansas , where we have land . And it's a looooooonnnnnng way from anything that can flood us out !

Mine is 56 feet above the nearest river, which is a small river. I used to live right next to it.

i

Well, I'm 115 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, so there. I live on top of the terminal moraine from the last Ice Age. If you're wondering, it's all melted over here. d8-)

If a giant asteroid crashed into the Atlantic, you would wish that you lived at a higer elevation.

i

Yes, I would. Or I'd wish for a really big net, to catch some of the fish going by.

I think a big asteroid is the ultimate screwing, though, isn't it? I mean, one of those suckers killed off the dinosaurs.

If a giant asteroid crashed into the Atlantic, you would wish that you lived on a different planet!

I definitely would not want to be ON that asteroid!

i

That would be better than being here. It would be so quick it wouldn't hurt at all.

One of the hard lessons in life that I learned at 18 (RVN) is that there are some things you don't really want to survive.

I've been through that area, and the floodplain is farmland; this time of year it will flood out their crops, they'll take a bath, but next year they'll have an incredible bumper crop with the new coating of silt and last year's drowned plants for topsoil. And if it dries out in time, they'll probably make a pretty good showing planting some later-season crops, like squashes and stuff.

In the lower really really poor reaches of Mississippi, I've seen houses on stilts, so a flood is like ho-hum.

Cheers! Rich

Well, you'd better go TODAY, and call it a week- or two week vacation.

Good Luck! Rich

Rich Grise on Sat, 14 May 2011 19:55:34

-0700 typed >> On Fri, 13 May 2011 23:22:01 -0500, Ignoramus21553

I've seen homesteads where the house was on a barge (floated in during an annual flood), with pilings to keep it in place. During the flood times, the house floats, tethered by the pilings - the rest of the time it just rests on the ground. Of course, these places usually are into he backwaters of the flood, so there isn't a lot of current.

tschus pyotr

Since were bragging about elevation: :-) I'm about 6000 ASL (above sea level) and well over 1000 above the muddy trickle of the Rio Grande. And close to 1000 Mi from the ocean. :-) Call me "High and Dry", especially DRY. :-( ...lew...

There are openings in a school about 35 miles from our place that my wife is qualified for , and one opening left in a machine shop in the nearest town (9 miles from our land) . I've been told by locals that a handyman that actually shows up on time and charges reasonable rates might do well there too . One job can support us , two would be better ...

I'll bet you're sitting on a big volcano that hasn't erupted for 10,000 years, but it's really getting antsy about it.

Here in NJ, the biggest thing we worry about is hurricanes. I haven't worried about one since I was a little kid, when Hazel flooded the Delaware River to within 50' of our house. It normally was more than a half-mile away.

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