Memphis International Airport recorded 13.7 inches of rain over a four-day period that began April 3, giving a measurement to the term “generational rainfall” used to describe the near-constant rain.

“The hardest hit areas were across central Arkansas into West Tennessee and the bootheel of Missouri into western Kentucky,” said Sarah Girdner, the water control section chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Memphis District, “with an area between Memphis and Union City being some of highest precipitation totals observed through this event — which is the equivalent of about a 500- to 1,000-year rain event for this area.”

Mississippi River cities brace for still-rising floodwaters

The four-day rainfall total recorded at the airport is a new record, breaking a record set in 1877.

Girdner and other leaders in the Memphis District continued Wednesday, April 9, to keep an eye on river gauges on the lower Mississippi and weather forecasts of more rain to come as well as a steady stream of “inundation maps” that show where the water is standing and where it’s moving.

In the runup to the start of the weather event, the Army Corps was also considering the capacity of the Mississippi River, which has been in a three-year drought.

This is the first “flood fight” status for the region since 2019 — a formal classification that heightens flood-control resources and river level monitoring.

“Before these rain events happened, the Mississippi River was about 10 feet below its normal stage for this time of year,” Girdner said. “And we saw probably one of the fastest rises, certainly in my career, on the Mississippi River up to the point where it’s in a major flood stage now.”

Memphis dries out after record rainfall

The river at Memphis was at just over 31 feet on the gauge at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 9. It is forecast to reach 36 feet Monday by the National Weather Service and then begin a slow drop.

One week ago, on April 2, the river’s local level was 8.4 feet.

The record-high Mississippi River level on the Memphis gauge was 48.7 feet set in 1937.

Donnie Davidson, Deputy District Engineer, said the USACE team in Memphis will be watching the Mississippi River level closely to see how quickly it drops. The quicker its level drops, or even if it stays the same, the better the narrower tributaries like the Wolf River and Loosahatchie River can discharge any rainfall they may get in the next few days.

If the Mississippi’s level goes up or drops slowly enough, and the rains to come are “high intensity,” Davidson said it could wreak more havoc along the tributaries that course through Memphis and rural West Tennessee.

Rain adds obstacle to ultramarathon at Shelby Farms

“If that stays up, we’re going to have backwater pushing against the headwater. That would introduce more localized flooding,” Davidson said. “The probability of that is probably not that likely.”

The Wolf River’s path through Memphis has been rising enough to get the attention of drivers on the interstate leg between Frayser and North Memphis in the last week.

Davidson notes that parts of the Wolf River Greenway are seeing some flood waters, but the greenway is designed to anticipate some flooding.

Water from the tributaries within Shelby County being trapped was a significant problem in 2011 when the Mississippi River at Memphis rose to 48.03 feet.

It was the second-highest level ever recorded at Memphis, with the Mississippi River’s waters rising into Tom Lee Park and along Riverside Drive at the foot of Beale Street.