During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 a levee was blown up with dynamite to prevent the flooding of New Orleans . Again during record-breaking flooding in 2011 , the US Army Corps of Engineers blew up a section of a Mississippi River levee with dynamite to open the New Madrid Floodway . The floodway was used for farming and had about 200 residents at the time . The levee at Bird 's Point was designed to be removed if necessary so that Mississippi water levels would be lowered , taking pressure off levees for miles upstream in more populated areas such as Cairo , Illinois , and New Madrid , Missouri
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
Levee breach