For Morganza residents, flood's a certainty

Unlike places in the Mississippi Delta where residents are waiting to see how high the flood waters rise, those in the area of Louisiana's Morganza Spillway face a certainty.

IF the spillway is opened for only the second time in its 56-year history, there WILL be a flood of monumental proportions. The only real question is how deep the water will be, as projections range from depths of between 10-feet and 25-feet.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers considers opening the spillway when the flow of the Mississippi at Red River Landing, La., is greater than 1,500,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) and rising.

As the mammoth structure, located at mile 280 upriver from Morganza, is opened, water from the Mississippi will flow into the Atchafalaya River, Atchafalaya Basin, and Atchafalaya Swamp at the rate of 600,000 cubic feet per second.

Water that passes the Morganza Spillway first enters the Morganza floodway, which extends from the spillway at the Mississippi south to the East Atchafalaya River levee. It is 20 miles long and five miles wide, including a stilling basin, an approach channel, an outlet channel, and two guide levees. From there, diverted water enters the Atchafalaya River Basin Floodway near Krotz Springs.

Officials estimate a drop of from one to two feet in the Mississippi's level south of the spillway and, by dropping the river's level and easing the flow, the decision to open can also help keep the river from further changing its course and protecting people and property from Baton Rouge south.

But that doesn't make the decision any easier ... just ensuring a more cautious process ... because of the impact on those who live in the path of what will be a man-made flood.

Just as in the Mississippi Delta and around Cairo, Ill. and other locales where the water's on the rise, there are families impacted by the decision. And the decision, as hard as it is on those impacted, is really a no-brainer. Option 1 positions Baton Rouge and New Orleans in the eye of the flood ... and the world already knows what happens when levees are breached in below-sea level NOLA. Option 2 jeopardizes many thousands fewer people ... much more wildlife and smaller, more rural communities.

It shouldn't be an economic decision, but that's what it comes down to — and, as is usually the case, urban rules over rural.

In Krotz Springs, La., ALON USA has shuttered its refinery and the National Guard is helping raise a levee to try and protect 240 homes nearest the spillway ... in Morgan City, officials have called for an evacuation once the Morganza is opened ... and everywhere, people are wondering what to do — now and afterwards.

Corps of Engineers Morganza
flood projections