Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avagam.

This day, April 21st, 1927, a district level Army engineer sent a wire message to the head of the Army Corps of Engineers that read this,

quote, Levy broke at M Mountains Mississippi 8 a.m.

crevice will overflow the entire Mississippi Delta.

Of course, this note about the levy breach at Mountains

Mississippi meant that it was already too late.

Mountains was one of the worst breaches, but there would be breaches all along the Mississippi

leading to the enormous and disastrous flood, the great flood of 1927.

In some places hundreds of homes would be wiped out in a matter of seconds of minutes.

Other places the water would come a little more slowly.

If we remember anything about the 1927 flood, it may be those images along the delta, the stories of the levees breaking or being broken in New Orleans, which we will discuss.

But for a sense of scale, some 10 million acres of land over seven states would eventually be under 10 feet of water

Almost three quarters of a million people displaced this is an enormous enormous event that as we were discussed basically reshapes the history of the Mississippi Delta and the region at a very critical moment in history.

So here to discuss as always are

Nikolheimer of Columbia and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley.

Hello there.

Hello Jody.

Hey there.

And our special guest for this episode back on the show

is Wright Thompson, writer for ESPN and the Atlantic and

when I asked him how we should intro him he said stressed out father of two who lives in Mississippi,

...