MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was on foot, monitoring conditions and the levee system Thursday, and WREG was invited to follow along.
“Today we are patrolling and observing the flood wall,” said North Memphis Sector Commander Matthew Taylor.
Taylor pointed out a section of the flood wall, near Bass Pro in Downtown Memphis, that seemed to be the only part making contact with flood water.
Even along that flood wall, there was not major flooding.
“We are walking along the land-side of the flood wall and just keeping an eye on any seepage that might be coming through the flood wall,” Taylor said.
At least once a day, the Corps is checking piezometers, which are tubes in the ground.
“As the ground water rises, it also rises in that tube,” Taylor explained.
The Corps drops a probe into the tube.
The piezometer measured around 7.76 feet.
That is how far the ground water is seeping up to where we were standing.
Taylor said that during this flood event, the ground water has only risen slightly, proportionally to the Mississippi River stage.
Even though the Mississippi River flooding was enough to close Greenbelt Park this week, the corps said it is watching.
Thursday, the river was near its expected crest and the threat appears to be subsiding.
The Corps said it will continue to run these patrols possibly into early next week.