Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Online
    • Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • Info For
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • About
    • About JSWC
    • Editorial Board
    • Permissions
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
    • Contact Us

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Online
    • Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • Info For
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • About
    • About JSWC
    • Editorial Board
    • Permissions
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
    • Contact Us
  • Follow SWCS on Twitter
  • Visit SWCS on Facebook
Research ArticleA Section

Sinkholes and sand boils during 2011 record flooding in Cairo, Illinois

Lois Wright Morton and Kenneth R. Olson
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation May 2015, 70 (3) 49A-54A; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.70.3.49A
Lois Wright Morton
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Kenneth R. Olson
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Excerpt

The southwestern tip of Illinois is bounded by the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, which converge at Cairo (figure 1), a river city with a long history of steamboats, barges, railroads, and road bridges spanning three states. The physical, economic, and social reconstruction of this flood-prone peninsula following the evacuation of the entire city on May 1, 2011, challenged local residents, community leaders, and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to strengthen levees, repair roads and bridges, and strengthen other basic infrastructure. While the Cairo floodwall and levee system was able to withstand the record-breaking flood of 2011 (NOAA 2012), it took more than two years for sand boils and sinkholes to be repaired. By the fall of 2013, the weakened levees and the flood-wall were reengineered and strengthened in preparation for future flood events.

THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS Cairo has a history of battling two rivers that are its economic lifeblood and also its greatest source of unease and vulnerability. The approximately 4,000 ha (10,000 ac) between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers where the city is located today were originally an 1818 land trust owned by land speculator investors from New York City and Philadelphia (Lansden 1910). The…

  • © 2015 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation: 70 (3)
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Vol. 70, Issue 3
May/June 2015
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Sinkholes and sand boils during 2011 record flooding in Cairo, Illinois
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
1 + 9 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
Sinkholes and sand boils during 2011 record flooding in Cairo, Illinois
Lois Wright Morton, Kenneth R. Olson
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation May 2015, 70 (3) 49A-54A; DOI: 10.2489/jswc.70.3.49A

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
Sinkholes and sand boils during 2011 record flooding in Cairo, Illinois
Lois Wright Morton, Kenneth R. Olson
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation May 2015, 70 (3) 49A-54A; DOI: 10.2489/jswc.70.3.49A
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • Slurry trenches and relief wells installed to strengthen Ohio and Mississippi river levee systems
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

A Section

  • How much grass will grow on your rangelands this year? Grass-Cast sheds light on the question!
  • Increasing agricultural conservation outreach through social science
  • Forest management and biochar for continued ecosystem services
Show more A Section

Features

  • Youth water education: Programs and potential in the American Midwest
  • Working toward sustainable agricultural intensification in the Red River Delta of Vietnam
  • Soil science beyond COVID-19
Show more Features

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current Issue
  • Early Online
  • Archive
  • Subject Collections

Info For

  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • Subscribers
  • Advertisers

Customer Service

  • Subscriptions
  • Permissions and Reprints
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy

SWCS

  • Membership
  • Publications
  • Meetings and Events
  • Conservation Career Center

© 2022 Soil and Water Conservation Society