Army Corps to Open Morganza Spillway on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LAKE PROVIDENCE, La. (AP) -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says federal officials have been given approval to open a Louisiana spillway as early as Saturday to avert a Mississippi River disaster in places like Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Jindal said Friday that the Army Corps of Engineers had received permission to open the Morganza spillway for the first time in 38 years to relieve pressure on river levees. The corps says it will open the spillway when the river flow reaches a certain point, but an exact timing wasn't known. However, that flow rate is expected
to happen Saturday.

Sheriffs and National Guardsmen will warn people in a door-to-door sweep through the area, Jindal said. In addition to the 2,500 people living inside the spillway, there are 22,500 people and 11,000 structures in the backwater areas that could be flooded.

If the spillway had remained closed and the levees had failed, New Orleans could have been under as much as 20 feet of water.

Jindal's office said the state will begin closing impacted roads and restrict public access to some levees in order to protect the public from dangerous conditions.

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opens the Morganza Spillway, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development will close the three-mile segment of La. 1 that crosses the Spillway and assist in the inspection of the structure, the state said.


Opening the Morganza spillway will ease the pressure on levees that protect Baton Rouge, New Orleans and the many oil refineries and chemical plants along the lower reaches of the river.

Shelters are ready to accept up to 4,800 evacuees, the governor said.

"Now's the time to evacuate," Jindal said. "Now's the time for our people to execute their plans. That water's coming."

If Morganza is opened, water would flow 20 miles south into the Atchafalaya River. From there it would roll on to the Gulf of Mexico, flooding swamps and croplands. Morgan City, a community of 12,000, shored up levees as a precaution.




[link to www.weather.com]

Last Edited by Joshman420 on 05/13/2011 10:57 PM