Z 2143.000 S
WALLACE (KATE MCMURTRY) YAZOO RIVER FLOODS SCRAPBOOK


Biography/History:

Levees failed in several places along the Yazoo River in 1932, flooding much of Greenwood, Leflore County, Mississippi.

The Yazoo River, already at flood stage because of the rising Mississippi River, began to overflow at Greenwood on March 15, 1973. Several levees along the Yazoo and Yalobusha rivers also failed, and water poured through the incomplete Big Sand Diversionary Canal. About two hundred families were forced to evacuate the Greenwood area, especially those living in the Rising Sun subdivision. The Chapman and Frederick subdivisions in Greenwood were also badly flooded. Greenwood High School was used to house flood victims temporarily. The Yazoo River crested at 38.25 feet in Greenwood on March 21, 1973. Around 1,750,000 acres of Yazoo River Basin land were flooded at that time.

Scope and Content:

This collection consists of a scrapbook compiled by Kate McMurtry Wallace concerning the 1932 and 1973 floods in Greenwood, Leflore County, Mississippi. Although there are a few newsclippings on the 1932 flood, most of the scrapbook concerns the 1973 flood. The scrapbook includes Wallaces narratives and newsclippings about the flood, as well as color photographs of flood conditions. Several newsclippings mention some of the flooded areas in neighboring Humphreys and Sunflower counties.

Series Identification:

  1. Scrapbook. 1932; 1972-1973; n.d. 1 bound volume.