2019 Mississippi River

[Cajunrunner]

If not being opened at all, I assume they believe all levees should hold the the water levels won’t be as bad as 2011??

[HelmutVII]

If not being opened at all, I assume they believe all levees should hold the the water levels won’t be as bad as 2011??

That is correct.

[basinbear]

Man I hope they are right

[cajun4life]

Having multiple lever breaks way upstream has been good for us downstream.

[Cajun90]

I know that some of the decisions the Corps makes are tightly defined by law or rulemaking. I've been unable to find anything in regards to Morganza. Their "action point" has been 1.5 mcf/s at Red River Landing. To my knowledge this has been the criteria almost from the start.

The thing is times change and thus conditions change. Some for the better and some not. I'm very curious to know if there is a documented risk assessment that has been done in the last decade. One point Helmut has brought up on a few occassions seem very concerning and that is a vessel ramming into one of the satured levees during a prolonged large flood event like we are experiencing right now.

Obviously the levees are going to be stressed because of the saturation levels and forces. A large set of barges could do a lot of damage should they break free and hit at the wrong spot. The ships and barges have gotten much bigger over the past 50 years.

Imagine a barge causing a major breech at the LSU campus during the middle of the night. I seriously doubt that scenario has been properly assessed by the state or the school. Thousands of lives would be in immediate danger.

[billbeck451]

well it does make more sense to allow upstream farmland to farm and nourish the soil like the river did for thousands of years rather then destroy everyone downstream

[HelmutVII]

A very good video explaining Mississippi River hydrology and how the ORCS is intended to work. The audio quality is not that good though.

https://youtu.be/XpjPe4kbpYo

[HelmutVII]

Another video by the same guy explaining the Morganza spill way operation

https://youtu.be/SwjmCBRx3lM

[HelmutVII]

Another video with a historical perspective.

https://youtu.be/n5DZ3yLMgyE

[NewsCopy]

Steve Pavlovich, an entomologist for Mosquito Control Inc. of Metairie, said midges may be swarming in higher numbers due to increased freshwater in the area. The tiny bugs_are just one indicator of a broader disruption that can be traced to the opening of the Bonnet Carre spillway.

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[Boomer]

Steve Pavlovich, an entomologist for Mosquito Control Inc. of Metairie, said midges may be swarming in higher numbers due to increased freshwater in the area. The tiny bugs_are just one indicator of a broader disruption that can be traced to the opening of the Bonnet Carre spillway.

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.....So with the huge rain forecast and Barry....what happens now?

[Cajunrunner]

Steve Pavlovich, an entomologist for Mosquito Control Inc. of Metairie, said midges may be swarming in higher numbers due to increased freshwater

Am I the only one who initially read this as “midgets” were swarming and thought WTF??