A neat article that talks about releasing the pressure from the river into rural Louisiana. It doesnt happen often, but It is going to happen again. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...nd-snakes-will-flee-as-the-mississippi-drains "with me watching a safe distance away -- the Army Corps of Engineers used its giant cranes to open the bays for the first time in almost four decades. The ground shook and water shot out at least 40 or 50 yards. In a few minutes, the surrounding pasture below the Morganza flooded. Rabbits, snakes, toads and mice ran up the hill without any fear of humans. They ran over my feet and between my legs. Large fish trapped in the deluge flew through the air."
My father lived in Plaquemine during the 1927 flood. He told us about walking to the levee to watch the river. This is from the same spot taken a few years ago when the river hit the 1927 high.
A great book about the 1927 flood and the creation of the Corps of Engineers Mississippi River Commission (which controls the levee system) is Rising Tide. It’s long but has tremendous information and impact.
I’m sure y’all have heard, they’re going to start slowly opening the Morganza spillway. The camp I use on the Atchafalya is ok so far and the opening of the Morganza will help us there. It’s very high right now- up to back porch where we clean our fish.
Where I live, I’m fine. I can’t imagine water getting in my house. The at camp I’m talking about is 50 miles away. It’s an old camp. I told my buddies who own it that, it the water takes it, we need to put a 3 bedroom repo trailer house.
They've postponed the spillway opening until the 6th, which is very good news for the people in Lower St. Martin and Assumption. They sunk a barge in Bayou Chene to serve as a floodwall yesterday. That will divert all of the backwater flooding that's been plaguing those areas. It should be down significantly by the time the Morganza water gets down here, and then the barge will keep it out. Here's what the river looks like at Morgan City right now. USACE says expect another foot and a half to two feet when the spillway is open, which I think will be the highest we've had since the wall was built in the late 80s.
My relatives said that the flood of 1927 was worst for them than the great depression as everything was washed away, destroyed or still under water.
