Yesterday I posted a diary on how the Morganza spillway was going to be opened within 24 hours.
Well its official. It will be opened at 4pm Eastern Time today.
This is going to affect about 25,000 people and farms will likely be flooded.
"It will be a slow, controlled opening," said Ken Holder, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the spillway.
Officials are going door to door to tell people that are in the path to leave
Bobby Jindal said that shelters were ready to accept 4,800 people. Not exactly sure where the rest of the people were supposed to go.
Opening the spillway will release a torrent that could submerge about 3,000 square miles (7,770 square kilometers) under as much as 25 feet (7.5 meters) of water in some areas but take the pressure off the downstream levees protecting New Orleans, Baton Rouge and the numerous oil refineries and chemical plants along the lower reaches of the Mississippi.
Video of Press Conference below:
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Map of Mississippi levees below:
To highlight the enormity of this event, this is the first time in 38 years that this has been opened.
Some media outlets are reporting that one bay of the Morganza Spillway will be opened at 3pm..
http://www.2theadvocate.com/...
This will release 10,000 cubic feet of water per second of the rising Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya Basin.
The corps expects to open two more bays on Sunday and, after that, more bays as needed.
Updated by GlowNZ at Sat May 14, 2011 at 12:45 PM PDT
A pair of barges loose on the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge have struck the U.S. 190 bridge, forcing the bridge to close as a precaution, according to WAFB.
http://www.nola.com/...
Updated by GlowNZ at Sat May 14, 2011 at 01:20 PM PDT
The second-ever opening of the nearly 60-year-old structure 186 miles upriver of New Orleans began at 3 p.m. sharp, when a crane lifted a gate covering one of the spillway structure’s 125 bays, releasing a gusher of about 10,000 cubic feet of water per second into the floodway.
Live feed of Morganza SpillwayUpdated by GlowNZ at Sat May 14, 2011 at 01:25 PM PDT
Seems that live feed is currently off air.
Updated by GlowNZ at Sat May 14, 2011 at 01:34 PM PDT
More information here:
http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/...
How you can help:
Donate to the American Red Cross
Updated by GlowNZ at Sat May 14, 2011 at 05:54 PM PDT
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/...