Floodwaters inundate a farm on Tuesday, 2 July 2019 in Ripley, Tennessee. Officials say water from the bulging Mississippi River has flooded thousands of acres of farmland in west Tennessee. Photo: Adrian Sainz / AP Photo
Floodwaters inundate a farm on Tuesday, 2 July 2019 in Ripley, Tennessee. Officials say water from the bulging Mississippi River has flooded thousands of acres of farmland in west Tennessee. Photo: Adrian Sainz / AP Photo

By Adrian Sainz
2 July 2019

RIPLEY, Tennessee (AP) – Wearing wading boots and a wide-brimmed hat, Derrick Currie casts his green fishing line into a pool of brown water along a rural Tennessee road.

In a couple of minutes, he reels in his flapping bounty: A nice-sized catfish that he puts in a cooler to take home.

Currie’s fishing hole looks like a lake, but it isn’t one. It’s farmland inundated by floodwater.

Lush green fields of cotton and soybeans turned into lakes Tuesday as flooding from the overfull Mississippi River covered thousands of acres of farmland in Lauderdale County in west Tennessee.

Officials say about 175,000 acres of farmland are now underwater in the worst time of year. County Mayor Maurice Gaines Jr. says early July flooding means farmers won’t be able to replant in time for the fall harvest, ruining countless numbers of crops.

Derrick Currie sits near fishing lines he cast into flooded farmland on Tuesday, 2 July 2019 in Ripley, Tennessee. He says he feels sorry for the farmers, but he jumps at the chance to fish the flooded land. Still, he does not recall flood waters being this high for this long - since February, he says. “You can’t get to the river, so you have to fish the backwaters,” said Currie, 52. Officials say water from the bulging Mississippi River has flooded thousands of acres of farmland in west Tennessee. Photo: Adrian Sainz / AP Photo
Derrick Currie sits near fishing lines he cast into flooded farmland on Tuesday, 2 July 2019 in Ripley, Tennessee. He says he feels sorry for the farmers, but he jumps at the chance to fish the flooded land. Still, he does not recall flood waters being this high for this long – since February, he says. “You can’t get to the river, so you have to fish the backwaters,” said Currie, 52. Officials say water from the bulging Mississippi River has flooded thousands of acres of farmland in west Tennessee. Photo: Adrian Sainz / AP Photo

The Mississippi River was cresting at 35 feet (10.7 meters) Tuesday near Ripley. Flood stage is 28 feet (8.5 meters), according to the National Weather Service.

“It’s been devastating,” Gaines said Tuesday. “These waters couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time. Most of the farmers have all their fields planted.” […]

Heavy rains caused catastrophic flooding along the Arkansas River in Oklahoma and Arkansas this spring. Trouble is now being seen farther south along the Mississippi River. [more]

River flooding in Tennessee ruins cotton, soybean crops