 Flood waters inundated parts of Jefferson City, Missouri, and limited access to the Missouri State Capitol during the Great Flood of 1993. | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Duration | April – October 1993 |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 38[1] – 50[2] |
| Damage | $12–16 billion[1][2] |
The Great Flood of 1993 (or Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993) was a flood that occurred in the Midwestern United States, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993.
The flood is among the most costly and devastating to ever occur in the United States, with 50 dead and US$12–16 billion in damages (equivalent to $23–30 billion in 2023). The hydrographic basin affected an area approximately totaling 320,000 square miles (830,000 km2), of about 745 miles (1,199 km) in length and about 435 miles (700 km) in width.[2] Within this zone, the flooded area totaled around 30,000 square miles (78,000 km2)[3] and was the worst such U.S. disaster since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, as measured by duration, area inundated, persons displaced, crop and property damage, and number of record river levels. In some categories, the 1993 flood even surpassed the 1927 flood, at the time the largest flood ever recorded on the Mississippi River.
- ^ a b Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee (June 1994). Sharing the Challenge: Floodplain Management into the 21st Century (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. pp. ix, 15. ISBN 0-16-045078-0. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
Thirty-eight deaths can be attributed directly to the flood and estimates of fiscal damages range from $12 billion to 16 billion.
- ^ a b c Larson, Lee W. (National Weather Service) (June 24–28, 1996). The Great USA Flood of 1993 (presentation). International Association of Hydrological Sciences Conference: Destructive Water: Water-Caused Natural Disasters - Their Abatement and Control. Anaheim, California. Archived from the original on January 26, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2006.
- ^ "High Water: Building A Global Flood Atlas". NASA Earth Observatory. April 6, 2005. Archived from the original on August 8, 2007. Retrieved October 25, 2007.