skymike

So I hear they're opening the Bonnet Carre Spillway this morning at 8am. Apparently, this is a pretty cool sight, as media and the public is invited to view. This thing fascinates me. In fact Louisiana water/flood control fascinates me.

If you dont know about this, you might find fascinating also:

-- This is only the 9th time the Bonnet Carre has been opened, since 1937. A fairly rare event-- to avoid overburdening the levees around N.O.

-- The Bonnet Carre Spillway is about ? what, you tell me, about 1 mile wide? Its normally just a piece of government land between the Mississippi R. and Lake Ponchatrain, that happens to have this massive, but not very tall, long series of floodgates over it.

--99% of the time people hunt, fish, train dogs, crawfish, ride 4-wheelers, and just do basic redneck stuff there, because the govt. says its open to everybody who wants to play in it. -- so long as it's not being flooded.

-- They have to use a crane thing to open the gates.

-- Its really cool to watch it being opened.

-- After they close the gates again, and the land starts to dry, the crawfishing is off the charts.

I hear it opens at 8am this morning.

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Now, on the topic of MS. River flooding:

-- unfortunately, in my opinion, theyre also forced to open the Morganza Spillway upriver of Baton Rouge.

-- This means the Atchafalaya Basin will get a massive amount of extra water.

-- I'm guessing a lot of people in the Basin are not happy with this. I dont know if it threatens their homes, but I know at the least, camphouses are going to be gone. Im guessing this means a major water event all the way down to Morgan City?

-- The Morganza Spillway hasnt been opened in 40 years. Does anyone else wonder if everything will work right, or if something has rusted, and will malfunction?

So how are you affected? Is there anyone here close enough to the Mississippi to be worried. Or is anyone here in the Basin? Whats going on?