father of waters causing huge problems
 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43031789/ns/weather/


what that article doesn't say about the morganza spillway is that they don't know that the thing will close again.
shipping may be cutoff from baton rouge south. this will affect not only the local economy, but the nation as well.

how many of those here know that you can reach the atlantic ocean thru the mississippi and up thru the great lakes? not if the father of waters gets closed.


another article i read talked about the flooding here in the arkansas delta. levees were purposely blown to save cities, to prevent other levees from failing and putting thousands of people and businesses under water. arkansas grows half the countries' rice. flooding has covered many farms, wiping out crops. look for corn, rice, and soy prices to skyrocket. crop insurance will only cover some of their losses. topsoil will be covered by sand and other flotsam left behind. farmers will attempt to start over, but yields will be lower.
we live 15 minutes from the ouachita (wa-shi-tah) river. the dam south of the port here is below the current water level, thus doing nothing to control flow.

Terrible situation for all involved, doesn't seem to be any good answers, thousands will suffer no matter what action is taken. My prayers are with everyone!

A lot of other farms not affected by flood are behind last year and will surely compound the shortage. We'll all be paying for this everytime we eat but at least most will be sitting in a house above water. Thank God farmers are tough!

Ditto. We've been fighting the normal changing of course of our major rivers for the past 200 years, slowing them, narrowing them, removing their floodplains, as we decided they needed to stay in one predictable channel so we could build and settle alongside them. Now we are confronted with the consequence of our commitment to how we have managed our waterways, as to not lose the ports and industry at New Orleans. At the expense of thousands of rural people, and acres of valuable farmland. Sad choice.

You made the point right there.

Wikipedia has been updated with flood plain info for Morganza:

This isn't going to be the event that allows the Mississippi to take the course it wants to the Gulf down the Atchafalaya basin. Now failure at the Old River Control structure, which almost happened in 1973, would be absolutely devastating for New Orleans as the city would need a new source of drinking water because saltwater intrusion would occur almost to Baton Rouge.

I'll get a good look at the water levels in the Morganza spillway when I drive over it on 190 in a few weeks.

i read friday that the white river which connects the arkansas to the mississippi is also cut off. the pressure of the water is keeping a lock forced shut; boats and barges can't lock thru to get to the mississippi. hopefully in a few days the rivers will all re-open; water has to go downhill. the problem then will be all that was left behind.

the ouachita dam at felsenthal:

Attachment 1761

I found (via KOS) the most awesome, in-depth article about the history of us attempting to prevent change to the Mississippi, the Atchafalaya and why the Mississippi needs to run down there, why we are trying to keep the Mississippi flowing by New Orleans, why that is so important to our commerce, etc.

It was written in 1987. And everyone at that time recognized it would just be a matter of time before the Mississippi blew out the Army Corp control methods, and chose it's own preferred course to the Gulf via the Atchafalaya.

Long, but worth it:

The Control of Nature
ATCHAFALAYA
by John McPhee February 23, 1987
The New Yorker Magazine.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/198...#ixzz1MXcmXetG

Edit: and another good review of the rivers and flood control systems, historically and today:
http://www.americaswetlandresources....erControl.html

Why do you think so? Do you think we are enough ahead of it? We've been lucky, not much rain the past 2 days in the country, but if we get any more ...

That article I posted explained in depth the disaster to NOLA, commerce, etc if the Miss. goes down the A. I had no idea how disastrous that would be.

we visited the felsenthal lock/dam system a few years ago. the guy said if it weren't for controls like that one, there wouldn't be an all year navigable river. it would drain down and then be too shallow in late summer.
i also know from reading the shelby foote books that many rivers were impassible once the spring rains were done; several boats were almost stranded on the red river during butler's campaign because they drew more water than remained by the time they were ready to head back down.

and riot, it's all well and good to post that stuff...but i read a letter to the editor today that explained the real reason all this is happening.
lack of prayer in school and before ball games. it's that simple.

but then, i want to ask the guy....back when there was prayer in school, why did weather tragedies occur? i wish i could ask him that.

Oh, dang! I forgot the world was ending Saturday, with the Rapture! I need to change a dentist appointment. I wonder if she'll still be around?

The COE does a good job with harnessing the Mississippi in Louisiana. Probably too good of a job, as the levee system allows silt to fly off the continental shelf instead of building up the river delta.

Lessons were learned after 1973 and improvements were made to the old river control structure system. It will probably take an earthquake knocking out the old river control structure to reroute the Mississippi now.

Hope that's true! I did read about what happened in 1973 with the scouring out, and the grout and riprap they used as fill.