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Louisiana flood gates opened to protect major cities
by Joseph Ernest May 13, 2011
Newscast Media NEW ORLEANS, LA -- Due to the ongoing flooding of the Mississippi River, US engineers have made contingency arrangements to flood up to three million acres in southern Louisiana in a bid to protect large cities along the mighty river. About 150 Corps workers walked along levees and monitored the performance of pump stations along what Reichling called the "wicked" Mississippi.
The Mississippi River floods the midwest
The Army Corps of Engineers said it could open a floodway to divert water from the river this weekend. An estimated 25,000 residents are preparing to vacate. Opening the Morganza Floodway would ease pressure on levees protecting the cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Included in those making the exodus are: Louisiana black bears, alligators, snakes, deer, fox, coyotes, rats, possums, raccoons, skunks, rabbits, nutria, turtles, amphibians, fire ants, and a slew of other critters. They all nest, feed and breed between the levees and the riverbank.
"My message to our people is they don't need to be delaying," Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said on Thursday. "Move their valuables. Think about where they would go."
Earlier this week, the Mississippi River flooded parts of Memphis, Tennessee, the city famed as one of the birthplaces of rock and roll and blues music. Further upstream, the Army Corps of Engineers has opened floodways in Missouri to keep pressure off levees protecting the town of Cairo, Illinois.
The US government has said farmers whose land has been flooded will be reimbursed for destroyed crops. Add Comments>>
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