Mississippi And Ohio Valleys Underwater

Unprecedented rainfall might not be as flashy as tornadoes but the aftermath is just as devastating. With some places receiving over six inches of rain a day, entire communities in Kentuckiana and beyond are completely submerged.

• 1.

  

  Side by side comparison of the nexus of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers on April 28, 2011, top, and on April 29, 2010 after days of flooding.

• 2.

  

  Col. Keith Landry of the U S Army Corps of Engineers listens at left as Gov. Steve Beshear asks about the flood wall being built to try to keep the flooding Ohio River out of Smithland, Ky. Photo By: Ed Reinke

• 3.

  

  Erica Cross stands on a friend's porch surrounded by floodwater in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Photo By: Jeff Roberson

• 4.

  

  Kasey Medley, right, and Erica stand on Kasey's porch. The wide angle shows the extent of the damage to their neighborhood. Photo By: Jeff Roberson

• 5.

  

  Water from a rising at Harrod's Creek and Ohio River laps at the backdoor of Chris Cook's first floor apartment off of River Road in Louisville, Ky. Photo By: David Harrison

• 6.

  

  Two men in kayaks paddle through a neighborhood inundated with flood waters off River Road near Blankenbaker, in Louisville, Ky. Photo By: Pat McDonogh

• 7.

  

  Mobile homes overflowed by floodwaters along the Wolf River in Memphis, Tenn., as seen from a Tennessee National Guard helicopter. Photo By: Erik Schelzig

• 8.

  

  More damage caused by the Wolf River overflow. Photo By: Erik Schelzig

• 9.

  

  A boy walks through floodwater from the Mississippi River in Commerce, Mo. Photo By: Jeff Roberson

• 10.

  

  Molly Brent tries to unclog a sewer drain on a flooded street in West Memphis, Arkansas. Photo By: Mark Humphrey

• 11.

  

  Two workers with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency stand atop rock and sandbags around an area of seeping floodwater known as a sandboil, near a levee, as they monitor seepage into Cairo, Illinois. Photo By: Jeff Roberson

• 12. in an effort to protect nearby Cairo, Illinois, the Army Corps of Engineers blew a two-mile hole into the Birds Point levee in southeast Missouri, flooding 130,000 acres of farmland in Missouri's Mississippi County.

• 13.

  

  After the levee was breached this tiny town was completely flooded. Photo by: Jeff Roberson

• 14.

  

  Water creates a white cap as it flows over where the Birds Point levee once stood. Photo By: Jeff Roberson

• 15.

  

  A house stands alone amongst the flood waters let loose by the Birds Point levee. Photo by: Jeff Roberson