[oceanagirl]

It looks like much precipitation will flow into the Red River. From the maps I have, it looks like the Red empties into the Achafalaya now. Does that mean that Morgan City would be in much more danger of flooding than the lower Mississippi around New Orleans?

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yes, apparently the Red River and Atch. were "joined" by the early Corps of Engineers flood-control/shipping improvement changes so they could get the Red River open to shipping traffic towards Ark and East Texas.

That changed the Atch. flow, and helped the (previously minor) Atch. combine with/drain off the Missip's flow in a short cut around NOLA>

Then, to fix that shortcut, the Corps built extra dikes/locks to re-divert the Missip back towards NOLA. It's kind of confusing, but the net effect was to try to "cut off"/undivert the "natural" movement of the Missp. It really doesn't want to go in that big bend towards Lake P. any more.