“The land was flooded intentionally to save a minority community elsewhere. Others who know better will hopefully correct or confirm my post.”
Interestingly, these areas are called Flood Plains for a reason and the reason they are called Flood Plains is that these plains are used for controlled flooding as opposed to having uncontrolled floods in densely populated areas.
That system worked this year along the Missouri River and also worked down in Louisiana along the Mississippi River where spillways constructed 60 years ago were utilized to save Baton Rouge and New Orleans from flooding.
These flood control systems function well and save the American tax payer billions upon billions of dollars.