Mississippi river floods – pictures

The Yazoo river floods farms and homes near Yazoo City, Mississippi 18 May 2011. Floodwater released from a key Mississippi river spillway surged through the Louisiana bayou and levees protecting the state's two biggest cities. Photograph: Eric Thayer/Reuters

Floodwaters from the Yazoo river creep across fields of crops near Yazoo City on 19 May 2011. For thousands of people forced from their homes by the rising Mississippi river, life has become a tedious waiting game: waiting for meals at shelters, waiting for the latest word on their flooded homes, waiting for the river to fall. Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

Flooded farmhouses line a rural road on 18 May 2011 near Vicksburg, Mississippi. The floods forced the Yazoo river to top its banks where the two meet near Vicksburg causing towns and farms upstream on the Yazoo to flood. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

In this May 17, 2011 photo, Floodwaters from the Mississippi river creep inland across the shore in Natchez on 17 May 2011. Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

Floodwaters from the Yazoo river creep across fields of crops near Yazoo City on 19 May 2011. Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

Farmers work as flood waters from the Mississippi river creep across their fields on 17 May 2011. Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

A barge travels down the Mississippi river past a flooded business near Natchez on 17 May 2011. Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

Barges sit on the Mississippi river near Vicksburg on 17 May 2011. The Coast Guard said it closed the Mississippi river at the port in Natchez because barge traffic could increase pressure on the levees. Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

Floodwaters from the Mississippi river closed Highway 61 north of Vicksburg on 17 May 2011. Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

In this satellite image provided by Nasa Earth Observatory, the Morganza Spillway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is seen from space. Photograph: NASA/Getty Images

Flood waters of the Mississippi river approach the top of the levee that supports the Morganza Spillway at Morganza, Louisiana, on 13 May 2011. Photograph: Chris Todd/EPA

Water from the Mississippi River rushes out of open bays on the Morganza Spillway and into a pasture in Morganza on 16 May 2011. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

A deer wades through water in the Atchafalaya river after water from the open Morganza Floodway invaded their habitat near Krotz Springs, Louisiana, on 17 May. Photograph: Sean Gardner/Reuters

Landon Bonaventure, five, walks to the edge of flood water from the Mississippi river, in St Francisville, Louisiana, on 19 May 2011. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

A partially submerged church sits in the flooded Mississippi river on 19 May in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Barbara Fontanille searches for a tyre she wanted to recover in front of her porch on the rising Atchafalaya river on 16 May in Simmesport, Louisiana. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Mary Williams looks on as family members pack the contents of her home, where she has lived since 1948, during a mandatory evacuation order on 15 May in Krotz Springs, Louisiana. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

A flooded security office for the Isle of Capris Casino is seen along the Mississippi river in Natchez on 18 May. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

Dennis Barkemeyer (right) inspects a levee constructed around a medical centre to hold back flood water from the Mississippi river on 16 May in Vidalia, Louisiana. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Charles Colbert pushes a wheelbarrow filled with sandbags though his backyard as he attempts to protect the family home from rising flood waters due to the opening of the Morganza Spillway in Stephensville, Louisiana, on 15 May 2011. Photograph: Sean Gardner/Reuters

Sandbags line the top of the levy along the Mississippi river in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on 15 May. Photograph: Julie Dermansky/Corbis

A national guardsman stands on top of the levee checking vehicles trying to enter town on 15 May. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images