Swelling Mississippi ravages its surroundings

As record floodwaters roll down the mighty Mississippi, 130,000 acres of farmland were flooded last week in an intentional breach to quell the rising waters. The US Army Corps of Engineers detonated explosives at the Birds Point levee in Missouri where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers meet.
The controversial move alleviated record floodwaters upstream in Cairo, Illinois, while submerging thousands of acres of farmland, pictured here near New Madrid, Missouri. The US Geological Survey is now using data from the breach to predict flood crests downriver. On Wednesday, water levels in the river reached a record high of 17.7 metres in Natchez, Mississippi.
While tornadoes and wildfires have also ravaged the southern US, researchers point to seasonal weather oscillations rather than climate change as the cause of this turbulent spring.

Source New Scientist