The Spill Of The Mississippi River : Historic or Tragic

Historic or tragic? This is a question that will draw a different answer from different types of people. Within the last week, the city of Memphis has seen the Mississippi River reaches its highest level in over 70 years due to a significant amount of rain over the last week. This drastic deposit of rain in such a short amount of time has led to flooding not only in the city of Memphis, but also in the border states of Mississippi, Missouri and Arkansas. The level to which the water has risen has set record-breaking numbers. Along the way lives have been altered and homes, business and memories have been lost. The national and worldwide coverage of the flooding has shown images that solely focus on the downtown area of Memphis, Tennessee. True, the water has risen to high levels and the water in turn has reached the street of Riverside and covered the historic Tom Lee Park. But the areas most affected by the flooding have not been given the same amount of exposure. Areas of Arkansas have been flooded tremendously as have areas in Mississippi, most notable the town Tunica, Mississippi. Tunica, Mississippi houses casinos that provide not only entertainment to citizens in Tunica and other surrounding areas, but also jobs. The flooding has temporarily shut down operations at some of the casinos and this fact shows how people are affected in the aspect of not having employment, if only for a little amount of time. Parts of North Memphis and South Memphis are completely underwater, which has forced many residents to find new places to live. Given the fact that the areas in Memphis that were flooded are impoverished areas indicates that relocating and starting over will not be an easy alternative for these individuals. Many of these citizens have stayed in these neighborhoods for over 30 years. Many are beyond retirement age, having only a social security check to live off of. This check will not allow for relocation or a new home. However if attention were given to individuals in all areas affected by these floods, there would be a more urgent approach to help. The TNT Broadcast of the Memphis Grizzlies vs. Oklahoma Thunder Playoff Game spoke about the flooding in Memphis but displayed on the downtown Riverside area and used the term “Historic” throughout the piece on the Memphis flood. The numbers which have been amassed by the rising river are historic, but in no way are the memories for those that have lost homes, jobs and memories historic; those individuals have tragic, life altering memories.