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Top 10 posts of 2011 for Joe Spake’s Weblog

[reposted from Joe Spake’s Weblog]

[caption id=”attachment_20067” align=”aligncenter” width=”520” caption=”Panorama of Mississippi River flood crest at Memphis - May, 2011”][/caption]

Disaster sells, obviously

Four of the most read posts on Joe Spake’s Weblog in 2011 were directly related to this year’s record flooding on the Mississippi River from the Memphis perspective.  Interestingly the 6th most read post, about the Memphis ice storm of 1994, was written in January of 2010, and has been read consistently ever since (Maybe I accidentally worked some SEO magic.)  Here are the Joe Spake’s Weblog Top 10 for 2011:

1.  Mississippi River flooding- You ain’t seen nothing yet  (April 4, 2011)  - The water was high in April, but not nearly as high as it would be in May.

2.  Flood Stage (April 26, 2011)   - Actually the Mississippi River rose over 14 feet higher than the official “flood stage”.

3.  NOAA raises Memphis flood crest prediction to 48 feet (May 2, 2011)

4.  Why I am not following you back on Twitter  (June 19, 2011)   - It seems that everyone wants to get involved in Twitter, but few want to put forth the effort to engage.  Think back to how much Twitter has been in the news, or actually shaped news in 2011.  The growth of the 140 character messaging system will continue.

5.  Quick guide to Mississippi River Conditions  (January 31, 2011)   - Written before the magnitude of the flood was anticipated.

6.  The Memphis ice storm of 1994  (January 30, 2010)   - That ice storm is probably the most memorable weather event of my life - a true perfect storm - The ice that caused the damage was mostly gone by noon.

7.  Joe’s Google+ tips - #1 - controlling the content of your stream (July 10, 2011)  - Google+ joined the social media field this year.  Will it be a viable  competitor for Facebook?  Will G+ find it’s niche?  The jury’s still out.

8. Memphis begins to feel the flood (April 28, 2011)  - River rising!

9.  For the love of figs - a new hobby (August 8, 2011)  - Having access to figs and pears gave me the incentive to take up canning.

10.  Memphis ghost schools - a photo essay (February 27,2011)  - Memphis City Schools has a lot of neglected and abandoned properties in their inventory.

Side note:  Images of the flood garnered over 100,000 views on my Flickr photo sharing site.

If you have been a regular reader of this blog,  please comment on the Top 10 or any of your favorite posts from 2011 that didn’t make the cut.  More to come in 2012!

Original Article

Top 10 posts of 2011 for Joe Spake’s Weblog

[caption id=”attachment_20067” align=”aligncenter” width=”520” caption=”Panorama of Mississippi River flood crest at Memphis - May, 2011”][/caption]

Disaster sells, obviously

Four of the most read posts on Joe Spake’s Weblog in 2011 were directly related to this year’s record flooding on the Mississippi River from the Memphis perspective.  Interestingly the 6th most read post, about the Memphis ice storm of 1994, was written in January of 2010, and has been read consistently ever since (Maybe I accidentally worked some SEO magic.)  Here are the Joe Spake’s Weblog Top 10 for 2011:

1.  Mississippi River flooding- You ain’t seen nothing yet  (April 4, 2011)  - The water was high in April, but not nearly as high as it would be in May.

2.  Flood Stage (April 26, 2011)   - Actually the Mississippi River rose over 14 feet higher than the official “flood stage”.

3.  NOAA raises Memphis flood crest prediction to 48 feet (May 2, 2011)

4.  Why I am not following you back on Twitter  (June 19, 2011)   - It seems that everyone wants to get involved in Twitter, but few want to put forth the effort to engage.  Think back to how much Twitter has been in the news, or actually shaped news in 2011.  The growth of the 140 character messaging system will continue.

5.  Quick guide to Mississippi River Conditions  (January 31, 2011)   - Written before the magnitude of the flood was anticipated.

6.  The Memphis ice storm of 1994  (January 30, 2010)   - That ice storm is probably the most memorable weather event of my life - a true perfect storm - The ice that caused the damage was mostly gone by noon.

7.  Joe’s Google+ tips - #1 - controlling the content of your stream (July 10, 2011)  - Google+ joined the social media field this year.  Will it be a viable  competitor for Facebook?  Will G+ find it’s niche?  The jury’s still out.

8. Memphis begins to feel the flood (April 28, 2011)  - River rising!

9.  For the love of figs - a new hobby (August 8, 2011)  - Having access to figs and pears gave me the incentive to take up canning.

10.  Memphis ghost schools - a photo essay (February 27,2011)  - Memphis City Schools has a lot of neglected and abandoned properties in their inventory.

Side note:  Images of the flood garnered over 100,000 views on my Flickr photo sharing site.

If you have been a regular reader of this blog,  please comment on the Top 10 or any of your favorite posts from 2011 that didn’t make the cut.  More to come in 2012!

Original Article

Old Man River just keeps rollin’ along

May, 2011

On May 10,2011, the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee crested at 48.03 feet as reported by the National Weather Service.  The flood was the second highest in recorded history, topped only by the flood of 1937.  Many homes were flooded on the outskirts of the city;  Riverside Drive and the west end of  Beale St., and Tom Lee Park were flooded;   much of Mud Island Park was submerged.   Here is my post from May 29.   And here is a slideshow of photos I took during the flood:

October, 2011

The River was at a low ebb on October 13, 2011 - 0.10 feet on the Memphis Gauge -  48 feet lower vertically than in May, the difference in height equivalent to a 4 story building.  In the next few days the river stage dropped to -2 feet before starting to rise some.  Zero does not mean the River is empty - that is just the benchmark for low water, a point that navigation can be affected.  The record low water at Memphis was -10.7 feet in 1988.  The River and riverfront look quite different at low water.  The cobblestone bank runs out, sandbars, and river current control structures, pile and rock dikes are clearly visible.  Seeing the river at this low stage, it’s hard to even imagine what it looked like in May.  Here is a slide show:

Original Article

The Great Memphis Flood of 2011

[caption id=”” align=”aligncenter” width=”500” caption=”Riverside Drive and Beale Street”][/caption]

Friday,  May 27, the Mississippi River at Memphis dropped below the flood stage of 34 feet for the first time since April 26, 2011.  The picture above was taken at the River’s crest of 47.8 feet, the second highest in recorded history.  The area still has a massive cleanup ahead.  Many homes are total losses, uninhabitable, or face extensive repairs.   Memphis seems to be returning back to normal, as evidenced by the reopening of Tom Lee park, which was inundated 2 weeks ago, for Memphis in May’s final event, the Sunset Symphony.

A few observations about the flood:

Highest praises to Shelby County Office of Preparedness

The Shelby County Office of Preparedness - Homeland Security, Emergency Management Agency, & Urban Area Security Initiative, kept the public informed through the very thorough website http://www.staysafeshelby.us/, and kept the media up to date with no-nonsense reports on the flooding situation.  While lots of info was out there about conditions, this was THE source for what was happening and for predictions of what would happen.  I fully trust these folks for being able to get us through any kind of disaster.

The National Media

Al Roker of NBC, Diane Sawyer of ABC, the Weather Channel, and all the other national news media seemed to have one thing in common - they wanted to get IN the flood water- and to report the sensational rather than the real.  Al, in his waders at Harbortown pointed out a few flooded and sandbagged buildings, but failed to have the camera swing around 180 degrees to show that 99% of Mud Island was high and dry.  While traffic was impeded by disaster tourists, at Harbortown, as well as the rest of Downtown, it was business as usual.

Social Media

Social Media platforms provided local information to the world. The #memphisflood hashtag was well used and visited on Twitter, with only a few opportunists getting off-subject to promote themselves or their businesses; websites and blogs sprung up; and the world seemed to be clamoring for images  on photo sites like Flickr and video on Youtube.  I had well over 100,000 visits to my Flickr account in a 2 week period, topping out at 16,456 views on May 9; and that is on an account that, before the flood, averaged around 200 views a day.  Once again I have to bring up http://www.staysafeshelby.us/ - not a glamor site, but a stellar source of info.

Many blog posts have been written; and many tweets tweeted.  I am sure that hundreds of thousands of pictures were taken of the flooding here.  Many are indexed on the Web. Here is my Flickr photo set of  images and videos from the flood:

Original Article

The flood party’s over - time to clean up

[caption id=”” align=”aligncenter” width=”500” caption=”Receding Flood - 43.8 feet - What’s left behind”][/caption]

Flood tourism has dropped off sharply since the river crested last week; and while the river is at a level today (43.8 feet) that would rate as the 4th highest crest in history, there were no tourists or picture takers but me on Mud Island.  There is an incredible amount of driftwood on the banks.  The river is receding slowly, but falling waters just aren’t as sexy as an impending flood.  There’s a long way to go before things return to normal.

There is still a huge task ahead in cleaning up, and I am not talking about the sure to be popular projects of cleaning up the riverfront.  The clean up of the flooded out homes and neighborhoods  of our citizens in the low lying, impoverished, flooded areas of the city probably won’t be nearly as popular, and will be much more heart wrenching.  As I have said before, help  if you can.  If you can’t work, donate money.

And please, please consider the power of the Mississippi River.  They don’t use the adjective Mighty for nothing.  Currents are quite strong, even close to the banks.  All the more reason to supervise your children if you visit the river banks.

[caption id=”” align=”aligncenter” width=”500” caption=”Ignoring the yellow caution tape, young, unsupervised children play at the water’s edge”][/caption]

Related articles

• Not a lazy blogger (memphisrealestatebuzz.com)

Original Article

The crest? Memphis flood will be with us for a while

It’s been a long time coming.  The Mississippi has slowly risen to displace an unknown number of area residents,  inundate our waterfront, drown our historic cobblestone landing, disrupt Memphis in May, and lay waste to area agriculture.  Now we are told the river  has hit its crest, the highest the Mississippi waters will get at Memphis during this Great Flood of 2011.

This disaster is not half over

Visits have diminished on my flickr and Youtube accounts;  the disaster tourists are tiring of gawking; and it looks like the mentality of getting back to normal is kicking in.  But it will probably take about as long for the water to recede as it has for it to rise.

If something was flooded 2 weeks ago, its likely it will be flooded 2 weeks from now.  And the cleanup?  Think of the homes that have been completely flooded; consider the vast areas of Memphis, the streets, the parks, the public plazas, now underwater.  The water will recede, leaving a muddy, garbage littered, possibly toxic mess.  Many homes won’t be salvageable.   The worst of this may be yet to come.  And the  crests have not even gotten to our brothers and sisters downstream yet.  Vicksburg, Natchez, Baton Rouge, New Orleans are still anticipating record flooding.

I have to give another big thank you to Shelby County Emergency Preparedness which has done a stellar job of leadership through this crisis.  I am sure they will continue to stay on top of the situation until things are back to “normal”.

And do I need to remind you?  Help out where you can.  Volunteer if you can.  Donate if you can’t.  The Red Cross always seems to put disaster donations to good use, and I am sure all the relief centers can use goods, services and donations too.

Related articles

• River crests in Memphis; downstream states brace (ajc.com)

Original Article

Guest Post: Flooding Impacts felt in agriculture

[Note:  We urban and suburban dwellers in the Memphis area don’t think nearly enough about the extent of the area’s agriculture business and its impact on the economics of our region.  I asked my friend Janice Person to guest post on the impact of the flooding Mississippi River and its tributaries on agriculture in our region.  js]

Flooding Impacts Felt in Agriculture

by Janice Person

In the past week Memphians have learned an awful lot about flooding from reading and watching news and information. Looking west from high up on the bluff, one has to wonder about how all that water pouring into Arkansas farm land is impacting the area’s farmers. Having spent a lot of time photographing the skyline from that side of the river and having spent a decade in the Delta, my heart goes out to them and I had to call a friend or two to see how things were.

Allen Helms is a cotton farmer in Clarkedale, Arkansas who lived in the Evergreen section of Midtown for years. He says he and others in agriculture have been preparing for the issues of forecasted high water for quite a while.

The levee system on the Mississippi seems to be working but Helms knows the St. Francis (Arkansas, Yazoo (Mississippi) and Loosahatchie (Tennessee) continue to rise and flood farms and communities. And Facebook updates I’ve seen show that farmers have been attending levee board meetings as well.

Helms says the Corps of Engineers is working to maintain the river system at large and knows that just a short drive away, farming friends are facing challenges due to the levee being blown. Recovery in those areas will take significant time and everyone’s hearts go out to the communities impacted.

Although Helms and others would normally be further along in planting the year’s crops, knowing the river was going to rise and having several weeks of rain kept farmers from planting much that could be lost to flooding.

When you farm along the river, generally farmers will hold off planting the “bottoms” or ground that tends to be wet in the spring, to last. While planting is delayed for cotton, Helms says the bigger concern is likely for farmers who contracted corn early and have yet to get in the field because corn is usually planted earlier to get a longer growing season.

Wheat crops in the area look good and will begin to be harvested in a few weeks. Hopefully by then, water levels will be receding. This is important for getting the crop to storage and to market.

[caption id=”attachment_19593” align=”alignleft” width=”300” caption=”Flooded Grain Bins near Ripley, TN”][/caption]

Harvest means moving grain around both on the farm to bins like these outside of Ripley that were emptied before water overtook them. Harvested wheat will usually go in on-farm bins or be transferred to larger facilities like Cargill and ADM. Those companies have locations on President’s Island to enable effective use of barges. Many of these businesses have closed locations temporarily as water has risen. And with high river levels, some of the smaller rivers have already closed to barge traffic, the Mississippi appears to be navigable for now. We just need to hope this return to normal before harvest gets underway or there may be some disruptions.

For now, a few farmers have a few fields that are finally dry enough to start planting. News along that line is creating a lot of hope for the others who wait for rivers to recede.

[stextbox id=”grey”]Janice Person is a native Memphian who’s had the chance to learn agriculture by working in communications. Having lived in Oklahoma, New York and the Mississippi Delta, she was thrilled to return home a few years ago. Her love of cotton is shown in both her personal blog address and Twitter ID. She currently works for Monsanto doing social media outreach and some blogging.[/stextbox]

Related articles

• As river swells, Mississippi Delta worries (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Kentucky may have seen worst of flooding (abclocal.go.com)
• Record-breaking floods sweep Mississippi Delta (nozynelly.wordpress.com)

Original Article

NOAA raises Memphis flood crest prediction to 48 feet

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has revised its flood level projections for the Mississippi, indicating that the Memphis area could see a near- record breaking level of 48 feet by May 10.

This revised chart was published by NOAA at 3:55 CDT today (May 2).

[caption id=”attachment_19582” align=”aligncenter” width=”490” caption=”Flood projection from NOAA- Memphis Data Highlighted”][/caption]

River stage is expected at 46.5 feet by Saturday, and 48.0 feet by May 10.  THIS IS SERIOUS STUFF, FOLKS!

I have provided links in the immediately preceding posts, but here is the main link you MUST BOOKMARK and MONITOR FREQUENTLY:

Shelby County’s Emergency Preparedness site http://www.staysafeshelby.us/

Local news media, and Twitter (#memflood)  offer up to the minute coverage of flood conditions.

Be Safe My Friends!

Ball fields at Rodney Baber Park Inundated with flood waters

Related articles

• Shelby County’s Office of Preparedness for flood information (joespakeblog.com)
• Memphis area begins to feel the flood (joespakeblog.com)

Original Article