Part of the county lies in the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway

Part of Mississippi County sits inside the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway. The floodway is an engineered piece of the federal flood-control system. Its upper, or northern, end is at Birds Point, near where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers meet.

Here is how it works. In a severe Mississippi River flood, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can divert river water across this low farmland. That takes pressure off the levees near the river’s confluence and protects towns like Cairo, Illinois. A long frontline levee runs along the river from Birds Point to New Madrid, with a setback levee on the inland side.

If you are buying land or farming here, this matters. Property inside the floodway can carry different flood expectations than ordinary Bootheel cropland. Check whether a parcel sits inside the floodway using FEMA’s flood maps, and confirm details with the Corps’ Memphis District, which operates this stretch.