Mississippi River flooding... Louisiana

PRESS RELEASE
State Announces Closures and Preparations for Corps Opening Morganza Spillway

BATON ROUGE (May 13, 2011) - Louisiana officials advise citizens to expect road closings and other impacts when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opens the Morganza Spillway during the next 24 hours. The state will begin closing impacted roads and restrict public access to some levees in order to protect the public from dangerous conditions.

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opens the Morganza Spillway, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development will close the three-mile segment of La. 1 that crosses the Spillway and assist in the inspection of the structure. The closure for the initial Spillway opening is estimated to last for several hours, and it is the only closure of La. 1 currently anticipated.

The detour routes for the closure will be as follows: northbound La. 1 to La. 10 to La. 77 to U.S. 190, and southbound La. 1 to La. 105 to U.S. 190. The detour is approximately 80 miles. The sections of roadway that are part of the detour are either protected by levees or elevated.

Well so it begins for us folks down this way! We are about 12 miles from the East Bank of the river (as the crow flys) but should not have a problem unless a levee breaks!

 

A bird that feeds on the edges of waterways that has long thin legs. We have them all over down here.

 

The map below shows all the waterways that drain into the Mississippi River.