Missisipin vesi ei ole ollut näin korkealla sitten 1930-luvun ja varsinkin kaupungin etelälaidan deltan maanviljelijät ovat hätää kärsimässä ja yrittävät pystyttää itsekyhäämiään tulvaesteitä omaisuutensa suojaksi.
Emergency workers pledged to "charge hell with a water pistol" in their efforts to protect Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, as the Mississippi River rose to levels not seen since the 1930s.The worst floods to hit the central United States in more than 70 years have swallowed uphomes, farms and roads and there had been fears that the home of "The King of Rock and Roll" could be hit.
The river swelled to six times its normal width and Army engineers have been patrolling levees in the waterlogged city of Memphis, Tennessee.
It crested at a height just inches short of the area's all-time record, but still soaking low-lying areas with enough water to require a massive cleanup.
Hundreds of people were forced from their homes but officials said Graceland, which is several miles south of downtown, and other famous musical landmarks like Beale Street were safe.
At Beale Street, a thoroughfare known for blues music, tourists gathered to take photographs as water pooled at the end of the road.
Bob Nations Jr, director of the Shelby County Emergency Management Agency, said: "I want to say this, Graceland is safe. And we would charge hell with a water pistol to keep it that way and I'd be willing to lead the charge." Sun Studio, where Presley made some of his recordings, as did Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis, also escaped the flood.
To the south of the city, farmers in the Mississippi Delta built homemade levees to protect their crops.
Louisiana began evacuating prisoners from the state's toughest prison and opened floodgates to relieve pressure on levees outside New Orleans.
US President Barack Obama has declared the flooding a "major disaster" in the states of Missouri and Tennessee, ordering federal aid to the areas.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
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