Levels of still rising Mississippi, Ohio rivers at all-time highs

[Daisyjane]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/09/army-corps-engineers-opens-gates-bonnet-carre-spillway-save-new-orleans/

Army Corps of Engineers Opens Gates at Bonnet Carre Spillway to Save New Orleans Published May 09, 2011

The Army Corps of Engineers began opening some floodgates at the Bonnet Carre spillway upriver from New Orleans on Monday.

With the river continuing to rise, the corps expects the spillway to take pressure off levees in populated areas to the south. Fresh water from the river will be diverted into Lake Pontchartrain, and from there out into the Gulf of Mexico.

While the diversion will help stabilize river levels, the fresh water also poses a danger to oyster grounds that are beginning to recover from last year's BP oil spill. The corps on Monday planned to open 28 of 350 bays that make up the Bonnet Carre spillway. It will be the 10th time the spillway has opened since the structure, about 30 miles northwest of New Orleans, was completed in 1931.

Col. Ed Fleming, commander of the corps' New Orleans district, says officials will monitor the rate of flow before deciding whether to open more bays.

The corps also has asked the Mississippi River Commission for permission to open the Morganza spillway north of Baton Rouge for the first time since 1973. The Morganza structure would send river water into the swampy Atchafalaya Basin and from there into the Gulf.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/0...arre-spillway-save-new-orleans/#ixzz1LrhbJMtU

 

[anneinchicago]

Not much coverage on the news that I've seen, but the levee breaches/blow-ups will be having an effect on more than just the flooded towns and farmlands.

If the Morganza especially is blown, the Gulf of Mexico will be effected. The fishing industry, already in serious trouble from the BP oil disaster, will be even more adversely affected by the levee breaches.

A large influx of silt, debris and especially such large amounts of fresh water innundating the Gulf whose waters are brackish will resort in large dead zones and fish kills.

Floods could widen Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone'

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2528845...t/t/floods-could-widen-gulf-mexico-dead-zone/


La. seeks federal aid for fishing industry as river rises

On Monday, the Army Corps of Engineers opened a spillway upriver from New Orleans that will divert the river's fresh water into oysters' salty habitats, possibly killing many of them.

These last two are old articles, but still, I think revelant.
Flood Waters Pose Yet Another Threat to Louisiana's Fishermen


http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/05/06/flood-waters-add-to-louisianans-concerns

Midwest Farms and Floods Killing Gulf Fish?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-chameides/strange-connections-midwe_b_114042.html

And some general info detailing the plans and path of the water:

http://blog.xkcd.com/2011/05/08/michael-bays-scenario/

 

[Daisyjane]

THIRTY feet of water on the road! See photo

http://twitter.com/#!/JohnKingCNN/status/68049931109281793

Tunica MS. 10' to 30' water over the road.

 

[bessie]

The river at New Orleans rose above the 17' flood stage today. Seventy two of the 350 bays in in the Bonnet Carre Spillway are now open, and more are expected to be opened tomorrow. Interesting photos of the spillway at the link.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/05/more_gates_opening_at_bonnet_c.html

I'll admit that I'm a little worried, as I have little faith in the floodwalls and levees that protect New Orleans. And while opening the Bonnet Carre and Morganza might spare the city from flooding, I'm troubled by the cost to the environment and the citizens of other parishes who've fought so hard to recover from last year's BP disaster. It's important for those of us in New Orleans to help our neighbors who will bear the burden of the flood.

 

[bessie]

Mississippi Delta braces for historic river flooding

Published: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 4:50 PM Updated: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 5:04 PM

The bulging Mississippi River rolled into the fertile Mississippi Delta on Tuesday, threatening to swamp antebellum mansions, wash away shotgun shacks, and destroy fields of cotton, rice and corn in a flood of historic proportions.

http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2011/05/mississippi_delta_braces_for_h.html

Prayers for my friends in the Delta.

 

[legalmania]

I saw a documentary about Hong Kong Japan a few months back, and they spent millions building a flooding system that runs under the city. It was really fascinating. It seems every year there is some kind of flooding from the Mississippi. It may be high time to try something else besides blowing levies or building sand bag walls. Maybe we should seek out some other engineers that have been successful in building something that works.

 

[Daisyjane]

Mississippi Delta braces for historic river flooding

Published: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 4:50 PM Updated: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 5:04 PM

The bulging Mississippi River rolled into the fertile Mississippi Delta on Tuesday, threatening to swamp antebellum mansions, wash away shotgun shacks, and destroy fields of cotton, rice and corn in a flood of historic proportions.

http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2011/05/mississippi_delta_braces_for_h.html

Prayers for my friends in the Delta.

And it's not exactly crystal sparkling water, either. It's full of pesticides, chemicals, sewage and snakes.

 

[bessie]

And it's not exactly crystal sparkling water, either. It's full of pesticides, chemicals, sewage and snakes.

You forgot to mention the as yet undetermined amount of radioactive tritium dumped into the river at the Grand Gulf nuclear power plant at Port Gibson a couple of weeks ago. :curses:

http://www.sunherald.com/2011/05/09/3096784/tritium-released-by-grand-gulf.html

 

[bessie]

From the front page of the Times Picayune this morning. I've seen the river come up many times in my life, but this is just ridiculous.

Thursday, May 12, 2011 1:34 PM





By Matthew Hinton The Times Picayune

St. Louis Cathedral seems to shrink beneath a high-riding ship passing by on its way up the steadily rising Mississippi River near New Orleans' French Quarter Wednesday morning. The river hit flood-stage height Wednesday, a foreboding measure for the metro area.

http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2011/05/post_189.html

 

[bessie]

Mississippi River floodwaters cover 100 acres in half an hour in Morganza Floodway

Published: Saturday, May 14, 2011, 6:30 PM



Water from the inflated Mississippi River gushed through a floodgate Saturday for the first time in nearly four decades and headed toward thousands of homes and farmland in the Cajun countryside, threatening to slowly submerge the land under water up to 25 feet deep.

As the gate was raised, the river poured out like a waterfall, at times spraying 6 feet into the air. Fish jumped or were hurled through the white froth and within 30 minutes, 100 acres of what was dry land was under about a foot of water.

http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/05/mississippi_river_floodwaters.html

 

[legalmania]

Okay, here's the thing: Those homes/farms are in the spillway! They chose to live in a designed flood zone, fhs-- so much so, some weren't able to insure. They gambled, they lost. The spillway was designed to preserve communities upstream. It did.

It's a bummer, for sure, but there you have it. mo

I heard something on a news report but don't have a link right now to back it up but I will see if I can find a link. Certain people are deliberately buying up homes near the Mississippi strictly for insurance purposes. They buy cheap furniture and appliances let the home become a total loss and put in a flood claim. The insurance company, pays with no problem and do it all again the next year. It's all perfectly legal. There was something about the insurance companies need claims like this to claim they are losing money. I really don't understand the whole thing , but it made sense in the report. This was a couple of years or so ago so I don't know if it's still going on. Gotta do my show be back later, will try to find that link.

 

[bessie]

Crooks and opportunists will take advantage of any and every situation, legalmania. The vast majority of residents who live in the spillway are honest, hardworking people. There are many reasons why they live where they do. I won't fault them because I know how hurtful and unfair it is when people remark that anyone who chooses to live in New Orleans is a fool. I always wonder if those naysayers have any real idea of how difficult it is to pick up and move lock, stock and barrel, leaving behind everything that grounds you, including family and lifelong friends.

Anyway, here's a picture of the river I took this evening from the levee a few blocks from my house. Normally, the river is barely visible from this vantage point because the batture is so wide and the water seems far away.

 

[legalmania]

Crooks and opportunists will take advantage of any and every situation, legalmania. The vast majority of residents who live in the spillway are honest, hardworking people. There are many reasons why they live where they do. I won't fault them because I know how hurtful and unfair it is when people remark that anyone who chooses to live in New Orleans is a fool. I always wonder if those naysayers have any real idea of how difficult it is to pick up and move lock, stock and barrel, leaving behind everything that grounds you, including family and lifelong friends.

Anyway, here's a picture of the river I took this evening from the levee a few blocks from my house. Normally, the river is barely visible from this vantage point because the batture is so wide and the water seems far away.

Holy heart attack bessie, is this because of them blowing up certain levies, or just because of the river taking on more water than usual ?

 

[bessie]

Just the river doing her thing, Legal.

 

[noZme]

Flip around on this site to see satellite photos of the rivers at normal levels & now. http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/archive/e0028.html