# House in flooded area of Mississippi surrounded by levee (photo) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 20, 2011, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558 "2011-05-20T12:30:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558/1 "2011-05-20T12:30:20Z")
The first photo on this page is pretty startling: > **[Mississippi Floodwaters Roll South](https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/05/mississippi-floodwaters-roll-south/100069/)** Is this a case of a particularly stubborn homeowner refusing to move, or is this a common protection measure? Does anyone know more on their story? ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558/2 "2011-05-20T12:42:10Z")
> [@hammos1](#): > > The first photo on this page is pretty startling: > > [Mississippi Floodwaters Roll South - The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/05/mississippi-floodwaters-roll-south/100069/) > > Is this a case of a particularly stubborn homeowner refusing to move, or is this a common protection measure? Does anyone know more on their story? The phrase you’re looking for is [ring dike](http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/26/ring-dike-program/). They’re pretty common on rural floodplains. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558/3 "2011-05-20T14:12:48Z")
Not the only such photo I’ve seen. There was one in which the landowner had a moat inside the ring dike, from which came the earth to make the dike. He had a tractor PTO running a heavy duty pump to transfer water which leaked thru the dike (into the moat) back out to the far side of the dike. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558/4 "2011-05-20T14:34:49Z")
More amazing photos of Mississippi ring dykes [here](http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/05/mississippi-floodwaters-roll-south/100069/) and [here](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1388660/Mississippi-River-flooding-Residents-build-homemade-dams-saves-houses.html). ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558/5 "2011-05-20T17:33:06Z")
Looking at pic #4, I wonder whether that girl is really named “Brittany Pearce” or if she just gave them a fake name from _Glee_. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558/6 "2011-05-20T17:39:41Z")
Thread about a guy in Arkansas that built a berm around his house. > **[One Man that saved his house from the Floods](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=608693)** > > I love creative out of the box thinking. 😃 This guys determination to save his home is pretty cool. He even had a tractor with a pump to keep his moat from overflowing. With all the misery and destruction it’s nice seeing one house saved. If it... Smart idea if you can get enough people to help build it. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558/7 "2011-05-20T18:12:15Z")
I don’t understand why water doesn’t seep up from beneath the ring dikes. Surely this can’t be so different than my basement with a sump pump: if the pump shuts off, water rises from below. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558/8 "2011-05-20T18:27:11Z")
Water does seep under the homemade dikes. They pump it back out. That one guy in the thread I posted used his tractor to power the pump. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558/9 "2011-05-21T05:24:31Z")
There was a big flood in Missouri back in 1993. I remember seeing pictures of ring dykes during that. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-in-flooded-area-of-mississippi-surrounded-by-levee-photo/582558/10 "2011-05-21T05:47:24Z")
Farm plus tractor plus advance notice = levee. What else does the farmer have to do with his time?