Great Mississippi Flood of 1927

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/great-mississippi-flood-of-1927

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the geographic extent?Inundated 27,000 square miles across 164 counties and 225 towns
2. What is the federal legislation?Mississippi River Flood Control Act of 1928
3. What caused the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927?Months of heavy rain soaked the soil, making it hard for the river to hold all the water. The river was already high, and the levees couldn't hold the extra water, so many levees broke and water spread far.
4. How much land was flooded during the 1927 flood?About 27,000 square miles of land were flooded, which is bigger than the state of West Virginia.

Levee System: An engineered embankment constructed parallel to a river to prevent flooding of adjacent land.
Floodway: A designated area or channel designed to carry floodwaters away from populated regions, often involving controlled diversion.
Jim Crow South: The period in the Southern United States characterized by racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans.