Sometime this weekend, the Mississippi River’s flow at the Red River Landing in Louisiana is expected to reach 1.5 million cubic feet per second, the trigger for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to open the Morganza Floodway, which has the capacity to divert 600,000 cfs.
Operating the floodway could send 5 to +25 ft of floodwater across 3 million acres of farmlands and residences. But the Corps predicts that not opening the control structure could potentially result in river levee failures and overtopping from north of Baton Rouge to the Gulf, and widespread flooding, including up to 40 ft, in some areas of New Orleans.