12: 23 AM EDT by Brian k. Sullivan and Leela Landress, May 15, 2011
May 15 (Bloomberg)--Louisiana's Morganza Floodway was opened yesterday, sending torrents of brown water from the Mississippi River in the Atchafalaya River basin, a move designed to spare Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
The spillway gates were opened such as the National Weather Service forecast that the river flow in Baton Rouge would exceed 1.62 million cubic meters per second, more than 1.5 million cubic feet per second that of the city levees were designed to resist.Within 20 minutes after the first gate was lifted, were several square miles of the Atchafalaya River basin immersed. The spillway, built in 1954 and not opened since 1973, can release 600,000 cubic meters of water per second at maximum capacity. It may be enough water to fill a football field every second 10 meters deep in the heart of what is known as Cajun country, eventually filling an area almost as large as Connecticut River system in Louisiana send "has been under intense pressure and it's going to be under immense pressure for a long time," said Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, Chairman of the Committee of the Mississippi River. "We give the river what it needs."The high flow of the Mississippi is challenging waterborne commerce. As much as 25 ships moored along the River broke loose in Baton Rouge with four striking the bridge of Highway 190, align the structure for road traffic, yesterday, said US Coast Guard Petty Officer Jeremy Green. ClosureThe bridge is a major thoroughfare for traffic over the river and will not be opened as long as the State and the Coast Guard completed inspections.You need to make sure that the integrity of the structure is sound, "said JoAnne Moreau, Director of East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor's Office of Homeland Security, in a telephone interview from Baton Rouge May 13. Public works staff and engineers are assessing the situation, she said.Coast Guard lieutenant Nick Parham. The River flooded Exxon Mobil Corp's docks on its refinery in Baton Rouge, company spokesman Kevin Allexon said said the incident closed also the river barge and sending traffic to the site. The plant, the second largest in the u.s. after the Exxon refinery in Baytown, Texas, in production continues and 525,000 barrels of oil per day processing can, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The corps the bays Morganza slowly to avoid damaging the structure is open, said Colonel Ed Fleming, district Commander and district engineer for the corps in New Orleans .State WarningThe Agency wants to give the animals in the wild life behind Morganza, Louisiana, located approximately 310 River miles above New Orleans, time to escape and avoid overwhelming local residents stroomafwaartsZei Fleming. about 2,500 people and 2000 structures within the water extraction and another 22,500 and 11,000 buildings are vulnerable to the rising waters, according to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. "Jindal we wanted to give people as much in advance as we can, "said may 13. an estimated 15,000 hectares of agricultural land will be underwater in the first instance in the South-central part of Louisiana along the Mississippi River as the water flows 100 miles to Morgan City, and in the Gulf of Mexico, said Kyle McCann, a spokesman in Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation. The water will take about three days to reach the Gulf. Inside the endangered area 2,264 wells that every day 19,278 barrels of crude oil, about 10 percent of the total, and onshore Louisiana 252.6 million cubic feet of natural gas produce, according to the State.Open for WeeksThe Morganza is a 5,000-foot, dam-like structure that Louisiana Highway 1 and a freight line of the Kansas City Southern railroad on top of the bears. Are ports can open for as much as three weeks, said Fleming. The corps is the most water freely by projecting the spillway will be approximately 125,000 cubic metres per second, or 25 percent of capacity, Fleming said.Unless Morganza was opened the Mississippi, was predicted to crest at 19.5 feet in New Orleans, which is protected by dikes up to 20 metres, according to the corps.The corps on 9 may open the bonnet Carre spillway upriver from New Orleans to siphon Mississippi water into Lake Pontchartrain. "This is probably as high as I've seen it in my life, "Richard Miller, a native of New Orleans, said yesterday on the bonnet Carre lookout on the banks of the Mississippi River as he watched the water flow with his vrouwSuzanne.--With the help of Elizabeth Campbell and Joe Carroll in Chicago; David Mildenberg in Vicksburg; Steve Matthews in Atlanta; Leela Landress in Houston; Mike Lee and Darrell Preston in Dallas. and Paul Burkhardt, Aaron Clark and Jim Polson in New York. Editors: Theo Mullen, Sylvia Whose
Contact the reporter on this story: Brian k. Sullivan in Baton Rouge on bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.
Contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets on dstets@bloomberg.net.
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