Spillway in Louisiana opening to divert flood
Source: Agencies |
May 15, 2011, Sunday
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US Authorities planned to open a key spillway by early yesterday evening to relieve the swollen Mississippi River and avoid flooding Louisiana's two largest cities although potentially swamping thousands of homes and acres of crops.
Louisiana state officials said in a statement on Friday that the US Army Corps of Engineers would open the Morganza Spillway "during the next 24 hours."
Christina Stephens, a spokeswoman for Louisiana's office of homeland security, said officials were going door to door to notify residents in areas likely to be flooded by diverted waters.
The opening of the spillway will channel Mississippi River water toward homes, farms, a wildlife refuge and a small oil refinery in the Atchafalaya River basin to avoid flooding Baton Rouge, the state capital, and New Orleans, which was badly flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
It would be the first time the spillway, 72 kilometers northwest of Baton Rouge, had been opened in nearly 40 years.
Angela Ellis, whose home is across the street from an Atchafalaya River levee in Krotz Springs, a town of about 1,150 people, said before the Corps announcement that she aimed to evacuate with her husband and toddler by tomorrow. She said other residents talked of riding it out.
"They can do what they want, but I can't take that chance," she said.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal had already told residents in affected areas to start leaving their homes because it was "extremely likely" the spillway would be opened yesterday or today.
Flooding could reach 6 meters in the Atchafalaya basin.
About 2,500 people live inside the floodway, and 22,500 others, along with 11,000 buildings would be affected by backwater flooding when the Morganza is opened. Backwater flooding is water pushed back into streams and tributaries that cannot flow as normal into what will be an overwhelmed Atchafalaya River.
Some 7,300 hectares of cropland could be flooded.
"We always felt like there may come a day that it may happen," said Martin Frey, a farmer in Morganza, the site of the spillway.
Frey farms 650 hectares inside the spillway, including 180 hectares of rice that had just begun to grow. Anticipating the high water, he pulled irrigation wells and motors.
"Now I have a crop sitting out there ready to die because we have no rain and can't pump water. That's about as disheartening as knowing that all of that's going to be under 4.5 to 6 meters of water soon," Frey said.
The Corps said the gradual opening of the Morganza spillway's gates would prevent an immediate rush of water.
Thousands of residents in towns along the Mississippi River from Illinois to Mississippi have been evacuated in recent weeks after the river overflowed its banks, fed by heavy spring rains and large snow melt from a stormy winter.
(Reuters)
Louisiana state officials said in a statement on Friday that the US Army Corps of Engineers would open the Morganza Spillway "during the next 24 hours."
Christina Stephens, a spokeswoman for Louisiana's office of homeland security, said officials were going door to door to notify residents in areas likely to be flooded by diverted waters.
The opening of the spillway will channel Mississippi River water toward homes, farms, a wildlife refuge and a small oil refinery in the Atchafalaya River basin to avoid flooding Baton Rouge, the state capital, and New Orleans, which was badly flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
It would be the first time the spillway, 72 kilometers northwest of Baton Rouge, had been opened in nearly 40 years.
Angela Ellis, whose home is across the street from an Atchafalaya River levee in Krotz Springs, a town of about 1,150 people, said before the Corps announcement that she aimed to evacuate with her husband and toddler by tomorrow. She said other residents talked of riding it out.
"They can do what they want, but I can't take that chance," she said.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal had already told residents in affected areas to start leaving their homes because it was "extremely likely" the spillway would be opened yesterday or today.
Flooding could reach 6 meters in the Atchafalaya basin.
About 2,500 people live inside the floodway, and 22,500 others, along with 11,000 buildings would be affected by backwater flooding when the Morganza is opened. Backwater flooding is water pushed back into streams and tributaries that cannot flow as normal into what will be an overwhelmed Atchafalaya River.
Some 7,300 hectares of cropland could be flooded.
"We always felt like there may come a day that it may happen," said Martin Frey, a farmer in Morganza, the site of the spillway.
Frey farms 650 hectares inside the spillway, including 180 hectares of rice that had just begun to grow. Anticipating the high water, he pulled irrigation wells and motors.
"Now I have a crop sitting out there ready to die because we have no rain and can't pump water. That's about as disheartening as knowing that all of that's going to be under 4.5 to 6 meters of water soon," Frey said.
The Corps said the gradual opening of the Morganza spillway's gates would prevent an immediate rush of water.
Thousands of residents in towns along the Mississippi River from Illinois to Mississippi have been evacuated in recent weeks after the river overflowed its banks, fed by heavy spring rains and large snow melt from a stormy winter.
(Reuters)
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