Hurricane Isaac 'drove Mississippi River backwards'

[dixiegrrrrl]

The storm surge ahead of Hurricane Isaac made the Mississippi River run backwards for 24 hours.

US Geological Survey (USGS) instruments at Belle Chasse in Louisiana recorded the flow of the river, finding it running in reverse on Tuesday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19435026

A better description is here, from Jeff Master's Blog:
"However, the massive intrusion of ocean water into the river channel caused the mighty Mississippi's fresh water flow to back up for hundreds of miles. Water levels were elevated by 10' in New Orleans (103 miles upstream from the mouth of the Mississippi), 8' in Baton Rouge (228 miles upstream), and

1.4' at Knox Landing, an amazing 314 miles upstream. "

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html?entrynum=2215

[malaise]

1. Wow

That's fascinating

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. The size and angle of the storm created massive storm surges.

"Isaac's storm surge levels were characteristic of a Category 2 hurricane, and lasted for an exceptionally long period of time. Waveland, Mississippi experienced a peak surge of 8' and peak storm tide of 9' (surge plus the natural high tide), which beat the levels that occurred during Category 2 Hurricane Gustav of 2008 (7' of storm tide.)"
wrote Masters.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Hopefully It Rose The Levels To The Drydocked Ships...

The drought upstream had caused sections of the river to be closed as the bottom was less than 10 feet. Hopefully all that water and rain helped re-open the shipping channels...

[malaise]

5. That's the best news about Isaac

Our nighttime water lock offs were canceled on Tuesday. Isaac filled the reservoirs.

[greytdemocrat]

3. That really is incredible!

Glad the loss of life was so tiny.

[freshwest]

4. Looks like Issac was a help. Remember threads of the river being too shallow for shipping?

Of course salt water isn't that good, and maybe it's all drained back by now. But the rain may have helped the aquifers upstream for a while.

[nolabear]

6. Eesh. All that salt water will be so bad for plants and wildlife.