Climate Adaptation
Already Braced for Covid-19, Towns Watch the Rising Mississippi With Fear
With the coronavirus already stretching supplies and budgets, local leaders worry that a flood could overwhelm them.
The Mississippi River overflows onto a street in New Orleans, Louisiana on July 12, 2019.
Photographer: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
From her home window, Belinda Constant, mayor of Gretna, Louisiana, watches the mighty Mississippi flow by. Beyond it are the sparkling lights of New Orleans. She views both warily these days.
New Orleans is a hot spot for Covid-19, and thousands of cases locally means she’s working with a skeletal staff under lockdown conditions. Meanwhile, the Mississippi has risen more than a foot in the past week, triggering emergency flood measures. And the rains keep coming.