The ferocity of the Mississippi is entrenched in the lore of people who live along its banks."The Mississippi is a mighty, mighty, vicious river. It's hard to keep him where he is today. If he decides to get outside those levees, there's nothing in the world we can do about it," said Reynold Minsky, president of the Fifth Louisiana Levee District, which maintains 257 miles of Mississippi levees north of Baton Rouge.
The river's ferocity was seared into the collective memory with the 1927 flood. Levees burst in the Lower Mississippi Valley, and the river flooded 25,000 square miles, wiping out entire towns. More than 500 people died, and about 700,000 were forced from their homes.
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