Flood of 2011
Long-Feared Flood Rolls Toward La. Bayou Country
Posted: May 19, 2011 5:02 AM by Posted by Sharlee Barriere
AMELIA, La. (AP) - The oil-and-seafood hub of Morgan City, La., has been hit by one disaster after another, from hurricanes to the BP oil spill. The latest trouble involves a deluge of water that was diverted from the Mississippi River and is headed toward the town of about 12,000 people.
The Army Corps of Engineers, desperate to save Baton Rouge and New Orleans from flooding, opened a spigot on a spillway over the weekend, intentionally flooding this part of Cajun country, an area much less populated. But the cascade of water from the Morganza floodway is hampering the local oil industry and fishermen on the bayou.
And while Morgan City has a 20-foot floodwall that's expected to protect the town, workers have rushed sandbags into place and shored up levees just in case.
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