The “Father of Waters” has chosen the spring of 2011 to remind us all that its name is no idle boast.

This issue's cover depicts a photograph of The Old Train Depot (circa 1907) in Vicksburg, MS, taken on May 12, 2011, which, as of this writing, was taken 8 days before the projected cresting of the river stage at Vicksburg. It demonstrates nicely the effects of the river on the “dry side” of the city's flood walls with a river stage approximating 53.5 feet. The forecast now for the river crest at Vicksburg is to be on May 19, 2011, at 57.1 feet.Figure 1

FIGURE 1

Not depicted are the many thousands of acres of crops that are flooded and lost, and the thousands of families displaced from their ruined homes, both from direct floodwaters and backwater flooding. Also not seen are the many hundreds of jobs lost in a struggling economy, shut down due to floodwaters. Stress will be placed on our national economy as the Mississippi River commercial traffic is greatly curtailed and highways on both sides of the river will be under water for weeks to come, prohibiting 18-wheeler transport. Another unseen tragedy is that thousands of animals, such as the white-tailed deer, have lost habitat and food sources and are struggling to survive on the levees.Figure 2

FIGURE 2

This “Father of Floods” of 2011 has already surpassed the enormous floods of 1993, 1973, and even the Great Flood of 1927. This event should promise to be as instructive with its many lessons as was Hurricane Katrina. We hope to study, learn, and prepare from these lessons, as we are doing with Katrina, because one lesson we surely must master is that there is always a bigger disaster to come.

Have your photograph of a disaster event/response effort considered for the cover of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. See the Instructions for Authors at www.dmphp.org for details.