h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Pictures:

I used to live one block from this part of the levee
http://9reports.wafb.com/MediaItemView.aspx?id=1287652

The bridge and casino at night.
http://9reports.wafb.com/MediaItemView.aspx?id=1287718

The river front steps where the fireworks displays are for July 4. That's only about half the steps above water. The river walk and the USS Kidd in the background.
http://9reports.wafb.com/MediaItemView.aspx?id=1287726

They don't call them floodplains for nothing. With all that snow that fell this past winter, it was inevitable there would be a big runoff during melting season. Then the rain s came. We've had some big rains in the Boston area, and the Charles River (which borders my neighborhood) came an inch or two from flooding the neighborhood. The Mississippi dwarfs all other rivers in the country.

We had a bit of a storm last night. It moved through at a good pace with lots of lightning, some rain, a bit of wind.

I'm not worried about my house flooding from the Mississippi. It's North of Baton Rouge by enough miles to not be in the path of the river or tributaries. This is, however, a 75 or 100 year flood that's like watching a slow moving train wreck because we know there will be destruction and lots of people losing homes and stuff. Hopefully, enough people listened to Governor Jindal, prepared and evacuated in time so there will be no or minimal fatalities.

This is going to effect Louisiana's agriculture and economy for a few years no matter what.

On the other hand, the Mississippi fills Lake Ponchartrain, diluting the muck left from Katrina. Then it passes through the marshes on its way to the gulf, hopefully rinsing the tar and oil left from the spill last April. As it leaves at a rate of 1.5 million cubic feet per second or whatever it slows down to after the Morganza spillway is fully opened it will deposit silt from one end of the country to the other probably leaving a good layer over the farm land and crawfishing areas, while adding a bit to the eroding coastline at the entrance to the Gulf.

It all sounds as if it's going according to a plan. People have enough time to pack up and evacuate if they need to. There were bad floods in the upper Mississippi Valley a few years ago. People get through these events. Crops get washed away, perhaps, but the river leaves extra soil, and maybe this makes the next set of crops grow better.

The good news is: The crest in Baton Rouge is expected sooner and lower than the original estimate.

I feel sorry for the farmers that will lose their homes and crops. But, they knew that was a flood plain and that when the spill way was built in the late 1950's it was always a possibility that it would be opened.

Photo from Nasa: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/morganza-spillway-from-space-image-of-day/2011/05/16/AFLCFA5G_blog.html

Some states have laws that houses built in the floodplain must be on 9-foot stilts. Or 7-foot stilts. The hard part is growing crops on stilts. The roots have a long way to go to reach the ground.

My grandmother's house was built on 5' high concrete columns.

The spillways are working. There is a lot of water. Traffic is a bit tricky on the Mississippi bridge. Overall, it's a better picture than predicted. http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/Flooding-estimates-reduced.html

If the system that's in place can work under these conditions, chances are it's a success. Good luck or good planning, it all helps.

So far, so good.

Bonnet Carre Spillway: http://9reports.wafb.com/MediaItemView.aspx?id=1292114

The Louisiana State Capitol building is not a river front building.
http://9reports.wafb.com/MediaItemView.aspx?id=1291644

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) - Several grain barges broke loose from a towboat and three of them sank, prompting the Coast Guard to close a five-mile (eight-kilometer) stretch of the flood-swollen river near Baton Rouge on Friday...

http://www.wafb.com/story/14682656/mississippi-crests-in-vicksburg-lower-than-feared

I thought barges were supposed to float, whether connected to something or not....

Does the Coast Guard have jurisdiction over the whole Mississippi, or just parts of it?