Flood of 2011
Slow opening of spillway continues in Louisiana
Posted: May 15, 2011 12:32 PM by Nichole Larkey & AP
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Federal authorities have announced plans to open two more gates of Louisiana's Morganza Spillway, increasing
the diversion of Mississippi River water that will flood rural areas along the Atchafalaya River basin, while easing flood threats to Baton Rouge and, New Orleans.
The first two massive Morganza gates were opened Saturday. The Corps said two more gates would be opened Sunday.
The opening is sending water into largely rural St. Landry Parish, where authorities issued a mandatory Sunday morning evacuation order for low lying areas near the town of Krotz
Springs.
Meanwhile, forecasters say the Mississippi has crested at New Orleans at 17 feet above sea level - lower than forecasts had predicted before the opening of the Morganza and the earlier
opening of the Bonnet Carre spillway last week.
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