The Mississippi is low here now.

[tallyho8]

The Mississippi was supposed to crest at record levels in New Orleans on the 23rd but since they opened the Morganza and Bonnet Carre' spillways the river is cresting in New Orleans today instead and at much lower levels than it would have been if the spillways were not opened.

Attached are today's photos of my batture land behind the levee and you can see that the river is still 10' below the levee. All good news for us.

 

[groundcover]

Glad to hear your good news . :thumbsup:

 

[Birdhunter1]

I live a long way up the river from you and there is still ALOT of water in the tributary rivers and creeks up here. We had record level floods in the Big Muddy River here and with the Missouri river coming up and alot of water up north still I would plan on this being a long flood.

Did I mention there is ALOT of water up here?

 

[whistlepig]

We fish at Reelfoot lake every year and go by the Mississippi river on the way there. Maybe because I am a simple farm boy but the sight of the Mississippi river has always marveled me. I would hate to see something this size get out of hand. It's a scarey river to me.

 

[chucko]

is the flooding not what makes all the land in a river bottom good farm land?

 

[jimmyj]

I hope all is as OK as it can possibly be. Glad it's not overflowing where you are.

 

[dave1949]

The Mississippi was supposed to crest at record levels in New Orleans on the 23rd but since they opened the Morganza and Bonnet Carre' spillways the river is cresting in New Orleans today instead and at much lower levels than it would have been if the spillways were not opened.

Attached are today's photos of my batture land behind the levee and you can see that the river is still 10' below the levee. All good news for us.

Glad it's looking like no major disaster for you. I had to google 'batture' land Learn a new word everyday. So, the pics are not the river, but lightly flooded areas behind the levee?
Dave.

 

[tallyho8]

The batture is the land between the levee and the river. Much of the year it is high and dry but it is underwater during high river levels when the river overflows its normal banks. The pics are the river because at this stage of the river it is flowing from levee to levee and covering all of the batture land in between.

The trees are growing on the part of the batture that is normally not underwater.

If we could allow the river to flow over the lower part of the state and deposit its sediment there once again it would be the best thing for the state because billions of tons of sediment would be deposited there yearly bringing southern Louisiana back above sea level again. However, there are many special interest groups who would be financially harmed by such an undertaking and endless court battles would result from such a decision.

 

[dave1949]

The batture is the land between the levee and the river. Much of the year it is high and dry but it is underwater during high river levels when the river overflows its normal banks. The pics are the river because at this stage of the river it is flowing from levee to levee and covering all of the batture land in between.

The trees are growing on the part of the batture that is normally not underwater.

If we could allow the river to flow over the lower part of the state and deposit its sediment there once again it would be the best thing for the state because billions of tons of sediment would be deposited there yearly bringing southern Louisiana back above sea level again. However, there are many special interest groups who would be financially harmed by such an undertaking and endless court battles would result from such a decision.

Thanks for explaining that. I saw the definition is 'elevated river bed' but I always forget the river is sometimes higher than the land outside the levee. I am not familiar with levees, as you probably guessed. :laughing:

The rivers and levees have turned into giant political footballs it seems. It strikes me as odd that it ends up with no real winning solutions, or as the news story said - the river always wins.

Dave.

 

[Alan L.]

We have a medical trip planned to Kenner, LA next Sunday - Tuesday. We usually take 190 east from Opelousas or I-10 East from Lafayette. Both of these highways go over a portion of the Atchafalaya basin. I emailed the LA DOT about conditions and they have not responded. I looked at webcams on their website and it looks OK right now, but I understand the water levels are due to increase all week and peak next Tuesday when we are in Kenner. We'd like to get home too (north Texas).

Those roadways appear to be elevated but I not only worry about flooding ANYWHERE along the route which would shut the whole thing down, but also huge traffic jams from people trying to evacuate the area.

Any word on expected highway conditions down there?