The Mississippi River was in a flood stage early Monday and over the weekend, the Wolf River reached its fourth-highest water level in history.

The great storm lasted for days ... On New Year’s Day, the Mississippi itself went above flood stage at Cairo, Illinois, and would stay above flood stage for 153 consecutive days.

That power would be unleashed during the great Mississippi River flood of 1927. Raised on his family's plantation in Natchez, Mississippi, Butler went to Tulane University and its law school ...

The Mississippi River Commission remained confident ... One year later, the Great Flood of 1927 would prove just how wrong they were.