Today the Mississippi River is flowing at about 18.4 feet on the Memphis gauge. Recent storms in the Tennessee, Cumberland, Ohio, and Missouri watersheds have fueled a rise toward a high around 25 feet. That's a pretty good healthy level.
Eleven years ago, the river crested at 48.03 feet on the gauge. Given that the river spreads out onto a vast floodplain, the actual volume of water at that time, in cubic feet per second or whatever other unit you like to use, was probably many times what it is at 25 feet.
In this photo we see the intersection of Beale Street and Riverside Drive in downtown Memphis. Riverside Drive, which runs parallel to the river, is high enough that it practically never floods, but this low-lying section of it got submerged in May of 2011.
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