Big Muddy Speaker Series presents:
The Record Flood of Dec-Jan, 2015-6: A Lesson in Underestimated Risk and Human Causes
As 2015 approached its end, a band of rain inundated the Lower Missouri, the Mississippi and the Meramec River watersheds, causing rivers to jump and a massive flood of water to converge on the St. Louis area. The extent of damage caused by the flooding that followed, according to Washington University professor Robert Criss, was exacerbated by manmade constructions in the floodplain of the Meramec River.
Dr. Criss has been called the "Pied Piper of Failed River Policy" and the "Mississippi Cassandra". He has been warning for years that human encroachments on our river floodplains including higher levees, bank stabilization and floodplain development are actually making our flood peaks higher and increasing flood damage. After this winter's unprecedented flooding, he crunched the numbers and published an article showing how flood crests were higher than previous models. Criss has concluded this is due to river and floodplain development.
Criss has shared his ideas at the Big Muddy Speaker Series several times. This time he'll share what he's learned from this flood event, and how he thinks policymakers should look differently at our rivers, floodplains and flood risk.
Meet Your Presenter
Robert Criss
, PhD, Washington University
Dr. Criss has been called the "Pied Piper of Failed River Policy" and the "Mississippi Cassandra". He has been warning for years that human encroachments on our river floodplains including higher levees, bank stabilization and floodplain development are actually making our flood peaks higher and increasing flood damage. After this winter's unprecedented flooding, he crunched the numbers and published an article showing how flood crests were higher than previous models. Criss has concluded this is due to river and floodplain development.
Related Presentations
Resources & Links
With the recent flooding in St. Louis, Dr. Criss and his research have been in the news a lot lately -
- A list of recent news articles quoting Criss' research
- A bibliography of recent publications and books by Dr. Criss.
- Lessons from recent flooding is being reflected in municipal decisions. Here's a story about an upcoming resolution in St. Charles regarding a St. Louis County Missouri River floodplain development - "St. Charles County to vote on resolution opposing Kroenke-connected flood plain development" by Jacob Barker, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Feb. 29, 2016.
- ARTICLE - "Record Missouri flooding was manmade calamity, scientist says" - by Diana Lutz, The Source, Feb. 5, 2016
- "Six ways the floods of 2015 and 1982 were surprisingly similar" - an article by Durrie Bouscaran published by St. Louis Public Radio, 90.7, Jan. 20, 2016.
- OPINION - "Pied Piper of failed river policy saw this flood coming" - a commentary by Tony Messenger, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 31, 2015.
- PODCAST - "The Historic St. Louis Flooding: What We Should Have Known" - an interview with Dr. Criss by "Environmental Echo" blog.
- JOURNAL - (behind a paywall) - "River management and flooding: The lesson of December 2015–January 2016, central USA" - by Robert Criss & Mingming Luo, Journal of Earth Sciences, Feb. 2016.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Images from the Flood" - a collection of flood photo collections.
- ARTICLE from last year - "Major Midwest flood risk underestimated by as much as 5 feet, study finds" - by Gerry Everding, The Source, June 29, 2015
- "On the waterfront with Robert Criss" - by Gloria Shur Bilchik, Occasional Planet, June 10, 2010
The Big Muddy Speakers Series in St. Charles
is hosted by these wonderful partners:
- Greenway Network
- Missouri River Relief
- Friends of Big Muddy
- Big Muddy Adventures
- Big Muddy National Fish & Wildlife Refuge
- Big A’s Restaurant
All speakers are presenting for free and Big A’s is sharing the space for free! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with all of us!
The Big Muddy Speaker Series also takes place monthly in Rocheport and Kansas City.
A special thank you to Greg Poleski of Greenway Network and Mike Clark of Big Muddy Adventures for making this happen!
The Big Muddy Speakers Series in St. Charles
is hosted by these wonderful partners:
- Greenway Network
- Missouri River Relief
- Friends of Big Muddy
- Big Muddy Adventures
- Big Muddy National Fish & Wildlife Refuge
- Big A’s Restaurant
All speakers are presenting for free and Big A’s is sharing the space for free! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with all of us!
The Big Muddy Speaker Series also takes place monthly in Rocheport and Kansas City.
A special thank you to Greg Poleski of Greenway Network and Mike Clark of Big Muddy Adventures for making this happen!
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