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This article is about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. For the Mississippi Flood of 1993, see Great Flood of 1993.'

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in United States history.

A river levee is blown up at Caernarvon in 1927

As the flood approached New Orleans, Louisiana, about 30 tons of dynamite were set off on the levee at Caernarvon, Louisiana and sent 7,000 m³/s (250,000 ft³/s) of water pouring through. This prevented New Orleans from experiencing serious damage, but flooded much of St. Bernard Parish and all of Plaquemines Parish's east bank. As it turned out, the destruction of the Caernarvon levee was unnecessary; several major levee breaks well upstream of New Orleans, including one the day after the demolitions, made it impossible for flood waters to seriously threaten the city. There is some belief by some^[specify] that the purpose of the levee explosion was to save the wealthier parts of the city by directing the flow of water to the more rural, less developed communities in order to minimize financial losses.^{[citation needed]}

Several reports on the terrible situation in the refugee camps, including one by the Colored Advisory Commission by Robert Russa Moton, were kept out of the media at the request of Herbert Hoover, with the promise of further reforms for blacks after the presidential election. When he failed to keep the promise, Moton and other influential African-Americans helped to shift the allegiance of Black Americans from the Republican party to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democrats.

The aftermath of the flood was one factor in the Great Migration of African-Americans to northern cities. Previously, the move from the rural South to the Northern cities had virtually stopped. As a result of displacement lasting up to six months, millions of Southern blacks moved to the big cities of the North, particularly Chicago.

The flood propelled Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who was in charge of flood relief operations, into the national spotlight and set the stage for his election to the Presidency. It also helped Huey Long be elected Louisiana Governor in 1928.

The flood had the unlikely effect of contributing to both the election of Herbert Hoover as President, and his defeat four years later. He was much lauded for his masterful handling of the refugee camps, but later concerns over the treatment of blacks in those camps caused him to make promises to the African-American community which he later broke, losing the black vote in his re-election campaign.

The flood resulted in a great cultural output as well, inspiring a great deal of folklore and folk music. Charlie Patton, Bessie Smith and many other Delta blues musicians wrote numerous songs about the flood; Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" was also based on the events of the flood. Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie's "When the Levee Breaks" was reworked by Led Zeppelin, and became one of that group's most famous songs. William Faulkner's short story "Old Man" (in the book, If I Forget Thee Jerusalem) was about a prison break from Parchman Penitentiary during the flood. Musician Robert Hicks (Barbecue Bob) came into the spotlight in 1927 with the release of his song "Mississippi Heavy Water Blues" which was a big hit on the race market, this was followed one year later with a less successful sequal "Mississippi Low Levie Blues", Both songs provide insight towards the impact the flood had on people affected by the flood.

• Great Flood of 1993
• Timeline of environmental events
• Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans

• Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America by John M. Barry, ISBN 0-684-84002-2
• PBS American Experience: Fatal Flood

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Great Mississippi Flood of 1927

• Mississippi River Flood of 1927 - short silent film produced by the US Army Signal Corps, shows the flood aftermath and relief efforts for the refugees. Hosted by the Internet Archive
• Disaster Response and Appointment of a Recovery Czar: The Executive Branch's Response to the Flood of 1927 - Well referenced CRS report.
• Delta Geography Information about how the Flood of 1927 currently influences the life of people that live in the Delta