Louisiana Spillway Likely to Open as Farms Sacrificed for Cities

(Bloomberg) Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said it is “extremely likely” the Morganza Floodway will be opened in the next 48 hours, inundating the Atchafalaya River basin.

The Mississippi River Commission hasn’t made an official announcement. Jindal said at a press conference in Baton Rouge that “we are proceeding on the assumption that the spillway is going to be opened tomorrow or Sunday.”

The spillway, built in 1954, would release 600,000 cubic feet of water per second into central Louisiana and the Atchafalaya River, taking pressure off the Mississippi and the cities downstream, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Atchafalaya empties into the Gulf of Mexico at Morgan City, 70 miles west of New Orleans.

“Now is the time to take action,” Jindal said. “We wanted to give people as much advance notice as we can.” ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-13/morganza-spillway-likely-to-open-this-weekend-jindal-says-1-.html

the Mississippi has been trying for a couple of thousand years to shift course into the Atchafalaya, which offers a shorter course to the Gulf. For a couple of hundred years, we've been trying to hold it back, 'cause such a shift would leave New Orleans and Baton Rouge, not to mention all the petrochemical plants and refineries in between, high and dry. The linchpin of the effort is one large structure called Old River Control. If it fails, well, so does much of south Louisiana. And now they're going to release water into the Atchafalaya on purpose... :scared:

The same might be said about the cities, but that involves less land -- and a lot of history.

And that tends to be near rivers and in areas that receive runoff.

Some of the most beautiful, fertile farmland I've ever seen has been next to the Missouri River. In 1993 and 1995 it flooded and took years to dry out. Everyone knows what happens there but you take your chances.

Farm where the farming is good.

If everyone avoided the flood plain we'd have really high food costs. For some to say that people shouldn't live in a flood plain is just wrong. We need the land in the plain for farming and most farmers need to live on their land.