The lower structure at Old river today
Posted on 05/16/2011 1:12:42 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Army Corps. opened the Morganza spillway on the Mississippi River in Louisiana on Saturday forcing tons of water and covering more than 100 acres of dry land with a foot of water within 30 minutes.
The flood gates were opened to shift the flow of the swollen river away from the numerous oil refineries and chemical plants in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. While the flood waters will move away from the more densely populated area, the opening of the gates could affect 25,000 people, 11,000 structures, and acres of farmland.
This is the first time the Morganza spillway has been opened since 1973. Residents have been evacuated.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
The reason for doing so is to maintain control by reducing the crest which could erode the embankments before and after the spillway - which would cause more devastating flooding all at once, or require them to blow the plug to the east, like happened in Misery.
All your facts are spoiling perfectly good rants.
by my math that is only 1.086 million gal/min far less then the 12 million gallons/second in the headline:
((100 acres x 43560 sf/ac x 1 ft deep)x 7.48 gal/cu. ft.) / 30 minutes
“Louisiana - Half under water, the other half under indictment.”
Ba da bing
I think the "X-files" quote is "the truth is out there".
What do you mean by this? How can we lose the Mississippi? I'm curious. Illustrations would be nice if you have them. I grew up not far from the river.
The part that would be "lost" would be the segment from the "Old River Control Structure" to New Orleans.
The reason is that the Atchafalaya River is deeper and provides a MUCH shorter path to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi has been "wanting" to cut a channel from its existing bed to the Atchafalaya for decades. The reason the "Old River Control Structure" was built was to prevent that.
In the high water of 1973, the Mississippi almost undercut the then-existing control structure, and to protect that structure was the reason the Morganza Floodway was opened that year.
Since that time, the original control structure has been re-inforced, and supplemented by the "Low Sill Structure"...a separate additional control structure to provide more bypass capacity.
If the Mississippi "does" manage to switch beds, salt water will intrude back up the now "slack flow" current channel, and communities (and industries) that take their fresh water supplies from the river would have to be drastically re-designed, or abandoned.
Search term: "Old River Control Structure" will take you to lots of info.
Thanks for the explanation. It’s fascinating stuff. I knew that the Army CoEs spent a lot of effort trying to control the flooding along the river, but I never knew the river is threatening to do this. Incredible!
“When the place you live floods, one moves, I would think.”
Which is largely what has happened - and why BR now has a larger population than NO, which is nowhere CLOSE to where it was pre-Katrina pop.-wise.
Thank you for your intelligent post. The number of posters here who seem to believe that LA is just NOLA is astonishing. Geography lesson, anyone?
There is no "RIGHT" answer here, just one that is "less wrong" than all the others...
Water flows "downhill" and its got to go somewhere, luckily we have a system that allows us to divert it where it will do less economical damage.
good post
That’s what I said a couple of days ago: There’s going to be things you never saw before. Wildlife can git ya from the water, the land, from trees, in the moss, in your pants, you name it. Most of it is best fried. Laissez les bon temps rollez!
The lower structure at Old river today
Here is an excellent illustrated history of the interface between the Red/Old/Atchafalaya River systems and the Mississippi River system.
And here's some further information on the Atchafalaya -- America's largest unknown river.
To sum up, the fact is from the Old River/Mississippi River junction, it is 175 miles to the Gulf via the Atchafalaya vs 325 miles via the current Mississippi channel.
Water seeks the shortest, thus steepest, route to sea level. If it weren't for the control structures, Morgan City would probably already be New N'awlins.
Thanks. Good to know.
Ha, Ha! You sure are worked up about my comments. I wasn’t talking about “strategic value” or oil refining capabilites. I was alluding to the media’s fascination with NOLA since it will FOREVER be a club with which they feel they can bash Republicans.
Chillax dude.
I don’t give a flip about Republicans or Democrats — they are all scoundrels IMO, and no one wanting to be respected should be working up posts from their talking points.
When I want to hear from your dense brain again I’ll post “hey dumb ass.” Leave me alone or prepare to be made a fool. I’ll be here all day, all week.
Read it all. Amazing! Thanks Okie, especially for the illustrations and photos!
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