River is fixing to get serious, boys!!!

[loch leven]

I heard that the La levees near Vidalia are only 62 to 63 feet and Natchez is going to 65. Can anyone confirm if that is accurate. Also, why isn't the Corp opening Morganza? Isn't this why we have flood control structures

[redspeckable]

I heard that the La levees near Vidalia are only 62 to 63 feet and Natchez is going to 65. Can anyone confirm if that is accurate. Also, why isn't the Corp opening Morganza? Isn't this why we have flood control structures

Levee at Vidalia is 70 feet. Morganza will open at a certain height, but not sure what that is. In my opinion, it should be done NOW!!!

[DanP]

Hwy 49W @ Carter is under at 107 for about 1/2 mile

[ntzhunter]

I heard that the La levees near Vidalia are only 62 to 63 feet and Natchez is going to 65. Can anyone confirm if that is accurate. Also, why isn't the Corp opening Morganza? Isn't this why we have flood control structures

Rumor here has it that they will open BC sometime by end of week to first part of next week. No word on Morganza yet....

[blgros1]

They suppose to open bonnie Carrie by mid of next week but that isn't going to give the delta any relief. I would assume tjey will open morganza spillway also but all that is really going to do is increase river flow. I think we are way to far south to give our boys in the central and north delta any relief. You boys stay safe up there

I heard that the La levees near Vidalia are only 62 to 63 feet and Natchez is going to 65. Can anyone confirm if that is accurate. Also, why isn't the Corp opening Morganza? Isn't this why we have flood control structures

Rumor here has it that they will open BC sometime by end of week to first part of next week. No word on Morganza yet....

[Blackduck]

BC helps all the way up to Natchez/Vidalia. I would guess Morganza would help a bit more. It has only been opened once. 1973. That is a real tricky portion of the river. Red River, Atchafalaya and big muddy all right up next to each other. The main reason they opened in in 73 was to take pressure off the old river control structure that had been severely damaged. We'll see what they do now. I'd guess with this insane amount of water they would open up everything they could.

[Blackduck]

Per meeting in yazoo today, everything 107' and below, between Yazoo hills and east channel levee south of Silver City will be flooded. Crest May 18. Yazoo airport is 104'.

East channel levee means the east levee of the WW Auxillary Canal? If so that means Tchula down to Yazoo will all be under?

[Wingman]

No. The channel starts south of silver city. Yazoo levee meets west channel levee there.

[greenheadgrimreaper]

I'm telling you if I was given a lifeline for 1 million and needed to know directional information on the delta- Wingman would be the go to man.

[fieldt76]

so if you had to draw a line through Mississippi from north to south and that line would show how far east the water would get, where would it be?

[Wingman]

Right now, se of silver city to south of panther swamp. East side of channel levee. This is because yazoo river backing up into areas where there is no levee on south end of panther. Across the channel on holly bluff side, water from sunflower river and steele bayou that can't get out to yazoo is backing up toward valley park, delta national forest.

[TNBayouBengal]

Does anybody know the likelyhood of cell phone towers being "knocked out?" I was just wondering how useful my cell phone will be if the levee blows where I live.

Also, does anybody have any concerns about people looting homes/businesses during/after the flood? I'm thinking some of the local spoons that end up staying during the flood might look at it as an oppurtunity to steal.

[DanP]

Barbour seeks flood disaster declaration
MS State Wire
HOLBROOK MOHR
Published: Yesterday
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The rising Mississippi River is threatening to inflict another major blow to the state that is still staggering from the deadly tornadoes that have ravaged the South this spring.

Gov. Haley Barbour on Tuesday asked President Barack Obama to declare 11 counties along the Mississippi River as disaster areas in anticipation of flooding. Several Mississippi counties are already declared disaster zones because of last week's tornados, which killed 35 people in the state.

Forecasters say the river level could challenge records in Mississippi that were set during catastrophic floods in 1927 and 1937.

Emergency management officials say the river now has a levee system that wasn't in place back then, but flooding is imminent. The high level of the Mississippi is expected to push water back into its tributaries, which creates the potential for flooding in counties not only along the river.

"We will have water in Mississippi where it has not been in my lifetime or in the lifetime of most people who will see your story," the 63-year-old Barbour told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The levels of the Mississippi anticipated by the Corps of Engineers will lead to backwater flooding in the south Delta at levels far above what we've seen."

Barbour said people who live in flood-prone areas - particularly those that flooded in 2008 - need to move their belongings to higher ground, elevate their homes if possible and tie down any large items that might float and cause damage, such as propane tanks.

Barbour said his staff met Tuesday in Jackson with leaders of several state agencies to get a briefing about river conditions from the Corps of Engineers. Officials are gathering information about schools, correctional facilities, nursing homes and multifamily homes in areas that might flood. The Corps is holding briefings this week in the Delta so local officials can start preparing in case evacuations are needed.

"If the levees all hold and the overtopping of the backwater levee is limited to about a foot or so, towns like Rolling Fork and Anguilla will not be flooded," Barbour said. "However, there's going to be more water around Rolling Fork and Anguilla than in decades, and if there is a levee failure somewhere, you could have even more flooding."

The Mississippi is expected to crest May 10 at Memphis, Tenn., two days later at Helena, Ark., and farther south in the following days.

Forecasters predict record levels in Mississippi at the cities of Vicksburg and Natchez. The 1927 crest in Vicksburg was 56.2 feet; the river is expected to crest there May 18 at 57.5 feet, according to the National Weather Service. Natchez is expected to see the river crest three days later at 65 feet, up from the 1937 record of 58.04 feet.

"The people living in the Delta are facing the biggest threat from flooding that they've ever faced in their lifetime," said Cass Pennington, the president of the Delta Council, an economic development group in the Delta. He said the threat of flooding in low-lying spots, such as Rolling Fork, is cause for anxiety.

"It's a huge issue. You're talking about schools underwater, highways underwater," he said. "There are going to be a lot of houses underwater and a lot of these people are low-income."

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jeff Rent said he's not aware of any plans similar to those in Missouri, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blew up a levee Monday in hopes of lowering the river to save the town of Cairo, Ill. That plan is expected to sacrifice thousands of acres of farmland and about 100 houses to protect the Illinois town of about 2,800 people. But blowing up the Missouri levee is not expected to alleviate problems in the Deep South.

Rent said the response to any flooding that may occur should be swift since there are already so many federal resources and personnel like the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the area due to the tornadoes.

The high water has already shut down nine river casinos in northwest Mississippi's Tunica County, where about 600 residents have been evacuated from flood-prone areas on the inside of the levee, said Tunica County spokesman Larry Liddell.

"We're concerned, but as long as the levee holds we'll be all right. And we don't have any doubt that the levee is going to hold," Liddell said. "We have the strongest levees in the country."

Bobby Storey, the emergency management director in DeSoto County in Mississippi's northwest corner, said some farmlands are already flooding and it's only expected to get worse. He said flash flooding from recent storms has also been a problem.

"We're praying for sunshine," Storey said.

Barbour requested the declaration Tuesday for Adams, Bolivar, Claiborne, Coahoma, Desoto, Issaquena, Jefferson, Tunica, Warren, Washington and Wilkinson counties.

___

Associated Press Writers Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson and Cain Burdeau in New Orleans contributed to this report.

[blgros1]

Just got off the phone with a buddy of mine whose dad in on the levee board for the morganza spilway. Not going to open until last resort, they are very scared of the integrity of the lock structure and think that the flow rate once opened will take the whole structure with it leaving no control structure at all.

[sunnylab]

DanP...still waiting on that map for Eagle Lake area.