NATIONAL WATER SUMMARY 1988-89 HYDROLOGIC EVENTS AND FLOODS AND DROUGHTS Prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2375 ABSTRACT Floods and droughts have plagued Mississippians since the territory was first settled. As early as 1543, a great flood on the Mississippi River was recorded in a history of Hernando DeSoto's expedition to the North American Continent (U.S. Weather Bureau, 1923). However, it was in the last one-half of the 19th century that collection of hydrologic data began on a systematic basis. The floods and droughts discussed herein are the most recent and most severe in Mississippi since systematic records have been collected. The most significant floods and droughts are listed chronologically in table 1: rivers and cities are shown in figure 2. The flood or drought severity (recurrence interval) given in table 1 is the maximum calculated for each event from streamflow records. Records from six streamflow-gaging stations have been selected to portray the severity and areal extent of historic floods (fig. 3) and droughts (fig. 4) in Mississippi. Data from these gaging stations are collected, stored, and reported by water year (a water year is the 12-month period from October 1 through September 30 and is identified by the calendar year in which it ends). These gaging stations are located in five of the six major river basins in the State and monitor streamflow in basins having drainage areas ranging from 180 to 620 square miles (fig. 3). Upstream from these gaging stations, streams are largely unaffected by regulation, diversion, or channelization. LizardTech's Djvu plug-in is needed to view these reports. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ENTIRE REPORT For questions or comments, contact K. Van Wilson.