State and federal officials say it appears the US Army Corps of Engineers will need to open the Morganza Spillway in early June for the third time ever. Ag Commissioner Mike Strain says farmers are being alerted to move their livestock and equipment because opening the spillway could flood 25,000 acres of farmland in the Atchafalaya Basin.
“So we do expect probably a total loss of all of the crops that have been planted and potentially the loss of the entire season,” said Strain.
Opening the Morganza in Pointe Coupee Parish would send Mississippi River water through the Atchafalaya Basin toward Morgan City.
Governor John Bel Edwards says the U.S Army Corp of Engineers may open one bay per day to reach a water flow rate of 60,000 cubic feet per second.
“In 2011 the last time it was opened it was 300,000 cubic feet per second. The particular challenge we are having is that the ground in the spillway is already completely saturated and the water levels are already high.”
Crawfish may also be washed out in the flooding and consumed by predators before they can be caught and sold.
If the spillway is opened authorities will decide whether to sink a barge in Bayou Chene in St. Mary Parish to create a floodgate and protect five parishes from flooding. Edwards says he is making a request for a federal emergency declaration to offset possible costs like sinking the barge…
“Whether it is employing the dams along Highway 70, the sandbagging costs, costs of pumps and those sorts of things.”
Edwards says a final decision to open the spillway is expected by May 28th.
Photo Courtesy of WAFB.
