I had not been paying much attention to the unfolding drama down in Lousiana until I read this:
Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh has instructed officials to open the Morganza Floodway within the next 24 hours to reduce the flow of the Mississippi River past Baton Rouge and New Orleans, a corps spokesman said.
Now considering, this is is the first time this has been done in 38 years, it seems like a very big fucking deal. And it is.
It could potentially affect 25,000 people and 11,000 strucutures.
This distract step is being taken to avoid an even bigger disaster down the river in Baton Rogue and New Orleans.
Below is a map of the potential affected areas:
The floodway is likely to only be opened to allow the passage of 125,000 feet per second of water into the Atchafalaya, which is less than a fourth of the floodway's capacity and less than half of the water release originally planned.
Anderson said the smaller release is the result of new preliminiary estimates of the amount and speed of water moving downstream.
The "deliberate and slow opening of the floodway will take several days, Anderson said.
Govenor Jindal has asked parish sherrifs to instigate formal evacuations in the areas that will be affected.
http://www.nola.com/...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/...
Live Webcam of the River Bend and Canal Street Ferry
Farmers are seeing their crops washed away. And this will get worse. . Unlocking the spillway would inundate Louisiana Cajun country with as much as 25 feet of water
http://www.nola.com/...
I have no idea how any of this going to play out but people's lives have already been disrupted and turned upside down. And sadly, more will likely experience the same as officals made the hard decision of opening up the splllways to avoid a much bigger disaster. Not much comfort to those who now face evactuation and their homes potentially being destroyed.