Mississippi River flooding peaks in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tennessee. -As the Mississippi River reaches its high point in Memphis and attention turns to a time-consuming clean up, farmers downriver are building homemade levees to protect their crops and engineers are diverting water into a lake to ease the pressure on New Orleans levees. In Louisiana, inmates have been evacuated to a prison on higher ground and officials are contemplating whether to open another spillway north of Baton Rouge.

The soaking in Memphis was isolated to low-lying neighborhoods, and forced hundreds of people from their homes, but no new serious flooding is expected. Officials trusted the levees would hold and protect the city’s world-famous musical landmarks, from Graceland to Beale Street. To the south, residents in the Mississippi Delta are preparing for the worst.