2-mile long hole blown in Mississippi River flood levee

The flooding in Mississippi has led the U.S. government to take drastic and explosive action. In order to stop several more towns from flooding they decided to blow a 2-mile long hole in the river flood levee.

The work was carried out during the night and the explosion was so large it could be felt 25 miles away. The resulting hole has allowed 130,000 acres of farm land to be flooded instead of the towns, but it has meant 230 people have had to relocate.

The U.S. Army apparently used barges to place the explosives along the 2-mile stretch of the levee. We can only guess at how much explosives they required to clear that much earth.

Source: Reuters, via Demolitionnews