MISSISSIPPI RIVER - 1927

Flood victims atop railcar

U.S. Coast Guard Relief Fleet

The U.S. Coast Guard performed valiantly during the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927, considered the most destructive river flood in American history.

Coast Guardsmen rescued 43,000 people and 11,000 head of livestock from waters that covered 27,000 square miles across state lines with depths up to 30 feet, according to Wikipedia.

The relief fleet consisted of 674 Coast Guardsmen and 128 vessels.

Parts of Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana were inundated, with the water beaching the banks at Vicksburg running 80 miles wide, according to Time magazine.

An Associated Press dispatch in The New York Times said: "From Cairo to the sea, the most menacing flood in recent years was sweeping down the Mississippi River and its tributaries tonight, urged on by continuous rainfalls throughout the basin." 

At least 500 people died during the months-long flooding, which led to the federal Flood Control Act of 1928 and construction of the world's longest system of levees.

More than 600,000 people were directly affected by the disaster.

Future President Herbert Hoover directed overall relief efforts.

A decade later, the Coast Guard was again pressed into flood duty when waters careened through the Ohio River Valley in 1937 - leaving at least 1 million people homeless and claiming at least 300 lives.

Path of flooding