We've been talking about it in the "getting nervous" thread I started about a week ago. Col. Fleming, commander of the New Orleans District, Corps of Engineers, was in Morgan City tonight doing a public meeting with the mayor and head of the levee district here. They were all very reassuring, and convinced that, barring a major levee failure, Morgan City will be well protected against what's expected to be coming. The Corps and National Guard have been working their tails off down here re-enforcing the levees. They are also preparing to sink a 500-foot barge in Bayou Chene to divert potential backwater flooding into the wetlands of Terrebonne Parish. Fleming also made a rather stunning comment. He said although the Mississippi River flow at Morganza is very close to the trigger point that would lead them to open the spillway, the flow rate was actually down some today. Maybe all of the flooding to the north is reducing the river to the point where we're going to get some relief down here. But all in all, they have done an amazing job getting this area ready. Fleming talks about water the way Gen. Schwarzkoff talked about the Iraqi army after Desert Storm.
Water is getting high outside my house…looking forward to throwing a kayak in this weekend. I’ll post pics.
La. spillway to open, flooding Cajun country - Yahoo! News Looks like they've decided to open Morganza, not that anyone thought they wouldn't...
Yep. The projections are that the first substantial waters will hit the seawall in Morgan City at +72 hours after opening, and backwater intrusion into Lake Palourde occurs 18 hours later. The good news is, all of the flood level predictions have been based on opening the spillway to 50% capacity. Now they're talking about less than 25%. Of course, they could always open additional bays later.
as of an article last night, wwl was still saying half would be opened. Morganza spillway to open Saturday | wwltv.com New Orleans
Took a ride to Krotz Springs today. Have never seen anything like it. Imagine a whole dam community moving out. It’s not THAT extensive but it is NON STOP utility trailer after utility trailer with everything from lawn mowers to refrigerators. Pictures are terrible and there’s no rhyme or reason. I just took some random shots for our Louisiana natives who now reside out-of-State. Most of them are off of 105. Btw, Hwy 1 IS closed and there's a detour on Hwy 105. This was the only house I saw with a bagged wall. National Guard Headquarters. Thought I’d gotten them in the pic but you have to look closely. There were 8 or so in the right hand corner playing basketball. Here’s the levee Jindal mentioned in his presser, I guess. It’s about 5 ft high but on the inside of the levee around Krotz Springs. This is a public launch that’s closed and a shot to the right of where I was standing taking the first one. This is a pen to work cattle that is on the river side of the Atchafalaya. Thinking about going into Sherburne? You’ll be greeted at the entrance with this.
