Posted on 05/14/2011 1:01:52 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Morganza floodway, a safety valve on the Mississippi River that allows water to flow into low lying areas north of major cities, is set to be opened today unleashing a wall of water on the region.
The water flow will impact at least 2,500 people, and potentially as many as 22,500, according to Bloomberg. From Bloomberg:
The opening of Louisiana’s Morganza floodway today may send enough water to fill a football field 10 feet deep every second across the heart of Cajun country, eventually filling an area almost as large as Connecticut.
Major General Michael Walsh, president of the Mississippi River Commission, has told Col. Edward Fleming to open the spillway as soon as the river’s flow reaches 1.5 million cubic feet per second at Louisiana’s Red River Landing, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement.
The flood is already impacting the area around Memphis, and farmland there is expected to be underwater through the summer. When the floodgate is opened, 15,000 acres of farmland will be flooded in Louisiana as well.
The opening of the Morganza floodway will also have an impact on oil and gas production in the region, as several refineries operate in affected areas.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
They’ll be lucky it doesnt blow the levees out in N.O.
You can stand downtown N.O. and when you look to the river you are actually looking UP at the ships. How sturdy those levees are after Katrina? Time will tell. Gonna be 2 feet from topping.
If you do a little research you will find that in the upper Mississippi valley rainfall had been in the range of 200 to 300 percent over normal in the last few weeks.
When water flows downhill the river rises. A huge amount of water is flowing into the Mississippi primary floodpath.
Actually, a record amount of water is flowing. Everyone hopes the flood control systems we have spent trillions of dollars on over the last 75 years will work.
“I wonder if CIC has to make the ultimate call on this. Will he take credit for it?”
The final say falls to the Mississippi River Commission
http://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/mrc/
Morganza Spillway to open Saturday
From above linked article-
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) — The Morganza spillway will open sometime Saturday. The decision came down from seven members of the Mississippi river commission on Friday. The corps says it will open the spillway when the river flow reaches a certain point, but an exact timing wasn’t known. However, sources tell WAFB it could happen Saturday at 3:00 PM.
http://www.kplctv.com/story/14643694/morganza-spillway-to-open-saturday
They have tried to contain it. They can coax that water to do things for a while but eventually it will do what it wants.
“True. Additionally, the concept of a Wall as big as Connecticut has me scratching my head.”
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
That’s what I was thinking. More crappy writing from the LSM.
Perhaps an area rug the size of Connecticut.
Snow melt + rain + global warming = must be Bush’s fault!
Does anyone actually give a damn so long as the links at the Ft Belvoir golf course are ok?
The vast majority of the people directly affected by the Morganza opening choose to live in fishing and hunting camps. For the most part, this part of Louisiana being flooded is uninhabited wetland.
http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/bayou,camp/Recent
These people make a living out in the wild and will return when the water goes down far enough.
A smaller number of homes in outlying incorporated areas such as Morgan City will also be affected, but these homes are being sandbagged. Again, these people know the risks and choose to live there.
As long as we don’t have to deal with any actual Connecticuters, we’ll be ok.
I’ve heard of the Army/Navy. I’ve never heard of Ft. Belvoir’s. Is it reserved for engineers?
Hmm, Connecticut must be a lot smaller than what a I thought it was.
WOW 10,000 cubic feet per second is almost 75,000 gallons of water per second.
WOW 10,000 cubic feet per second is almost 75,000 gallons of water per second.
And there are 125 of those gates that can be opened. I don’t think more than 25% will be opened according to one article I read somewhere but don’t rememer where.
Louisiana Is About To Be Flooded With A Wall Of Water Nearly As Big As Connecticut
And the corps of engineers...Are helping...?
Most of the flooding has come from the Ohio River basin due to heavy rains in the east and maybe some snow melt in the Appalachians. The quantity of water must be more than the 1993 flooding from the Missouri/Mississippi system since that did not seem to cause significant problems below the confluence of the Mississippi/Ohio.
It makes no sense at all to farm the blackest soil in the world, especially when it floods two or three times a century. It would probably make much more sense to build cities in that lowland instead.
Here’s a good map that shows the drainage that ultimately collects and flows thru the Atchalafaya and Mississippi Rivers as it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.
click:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2719962/posts?page=27#27
heck, Ft Belvoir’s golf course seems to be reserved every week for POTUS (when he doesn’t go to Andrews AF Base instead)
And why would we save a city of corrupt by destroying the good crops of country dwellers? Kinds of defeat the purpose of making food to feed these no goods of NO.
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