The Times-Picayune reports that Flooding fears recede for residents in Morganza Floodway

BUTTE LA ROSE — Unleashing a torrent greater than Niagara Falls, the Morganza Floodway is gushing 114,000 cubic feet of water per second into the Atchafalaya River Basin, spawning white-water rapids that churn more than 100 yards from the control structure.

When the spillway gates started opening May 14 to reduce near-record levels on the rain-swollen Mississippi River, the Army Corps of Engineers projected there would be up to 25 feet of flooding in a 20-mile-wide, 150-mile-long swath of Cajun country from Melville to Morgan City.

But with no significant flooding of inhabited areas more than a week later, some floodway residents, especially those who packed all their belongings and headed for higher ground days ago, are asking a simple question: Where’s the water?

The flood projections were made based on what happened the last time the Morganza Spillway was used, in 1973. That year the ground was saturated and the Atchafalaya River system was already high before the gates were opened. In addition more gates were opened, and they were opened at the same time.

This year the river system is low and the ground dry from a winter drought. The Corps has also been adding water gradually and isn’t adding as much as was diverted in 1973. Not only is the ground soaking it up, but there are numerous ponding sites in the basin that are also pulling water out of the Spillway.

As the diversion continues the water will get higher, but it doesn’t look like it will be the major flooding that occurred in 1973.

After seeing this great cartoon by Joel Pett of the Lexington Herald-Leader, I decided to see if the Republicans actually had someone to run against Zero. Most of the coverage of “contenders” has been in the Entertainment or Off Beat sections of the news sites.

One of places with the longest list was ABC News [the American “BC”] and its listing of Republican Presidential Contenders for 2012.

What a sorry group of people. Any of them that might actually attract voters in a general election, won’t get by the filter of the primaries. If this is “the cream of the crop”, they should just plow “the crop” under and wait for the next season.

Position: 10.9N 133.9E [ 6PM CST 0000 UTC 9AM JST].
Movement: West-Northwest [290°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [110 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [140 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [170 km].

Currently about 230 miles [ 370 km] North of Palau.

This is the first named storm of the Western Pacific season and it looks like it is going to spin into a major typhoon before its over. Current forecasts have it paralleling the Philippines and heading towards Taiwan, and then turning North towards Japan.

The tracking and forecast information is coming primarily from the US Navy center on Hawaii.

The reading will be from the Old Testament, the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 18, verses 20-22:

But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

How do “true believers” deal with “false prophets”? Well, there are two main schools of thought – Accuracy and Efficacy.

The supporters of the Accuracy school believe the stones should be smaller, no larger than a hen’s egg, so all might participate and the overall accuracy will be greater, with fewer injuries among the mob.

The Efficacy school believes that the smaller missiles prolong the process, and much larger stones should be cast. Although the casts might not be as accurate, the damage done by those that do strike, will finish the job before the NASCAR race begins.

YMMV.

Note: We are now finding out that a number of people have done very drastic things based on their belief that the Rapture would occur yesterday, so this is more than a radio preacher being exposed as a fraud … again.