More on the Flooding

Dr Masters continues to cover the flooding and notes:

With the Morganza, Bonnet Carre’, and Birds Point-New Madrid Spillways all open, the Army Corps of Engineers has now opened all of its major spillways simultaneously for the first time ever.
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In Manitoba, Canada, heavy spring snow melt in combination with heavy rains have combined to create record flooding on the Assiniboine River. Authorities intentionally breached a levee over the weekend to save hundreds of homes, but inundated huge areas of farmland as a result. The flood is being called a 300-year flood, and damages are already in excess of $1 billion.

The flood on the Mississippi is the “Project Flood”, the event that the control structures were designed to handle. While things seem to be well in hand at the moment, what happens if the next event is worse? There are no more tools available.

Even with the structures in place, the Coast Guard has halted traffic on the Mississippi at Natchez to avoid any additional stress from the movement of barges. Even bow waves are considered a possible hazard at this point. It is down to waiting for the crest to pass.

Update: The BBC reports Section of flooding Mississippi River re-opens to ships

The US Coast Guard has re-opened a section of the swollen Mississippi River to shipping, after closing it to protect strained flood defences.

The authorities halted barge traffic at the port in Natchez, Mississippi, earlier on Tuesday, warning ship wakes could increase pressure on the levees.

An extended closure could have cost those who rely on the route to transport grain millions of dollars.
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The move blocked south-bound vessels heading for the Gulf of Mexico, and halted north-bound vessels that had dropped off their cargo at the Port of New Orleans.

As of Tuesday evening they were to be allowed through the re-opened section one by one, at a slow speed.

The US Coast Guard has warned the heavy wakes churned up by barges and cargo haulers increases pressure on the already straining levees.

So, they have essentially put the Mississippi under a “No Wake Zone”, which is becoming all too common around here as fools build too close to the water.