For 2011 Flood Info

[DanP]

We've got a lot of new information up... new inundation map, road elevation maps, timelines, and lots of photos. www.deltacouncil.org

[Wildfowler]

Thanks for putting those links on the website.

[DanP]

Update from Peter Nimrod of the MS Levee Board:

Good News!
The MS River is cresting at Arkansas City!

UPDATE – May 16, 2011
CURRENT GAGE READINGS
Arkansas City 53.1’
Greenville 64.2’
Vicksburg 56.5’

MS RIVER FORECAST
They lowered the Greenville crest by 6” to 64.5’ on May 17th:
Arkansas City 53.1’ cresting
Greenville 64.5’ crest on May 17th
Vicksburg 57.5’ crest on May 19th
This forecast will exceed the 1973 highwater levels by 6’.
This forecast will put us 3.5’ above the 100-year flood on the MS River.
The 100-year flood on the MS River is 61’ at Greenville and 54’ at Vicksburg.

YBW AREA FORECAST
The Steele Bayou Structure is currently holding out 16’ of water from inundating the MS Delta!
Unfortunately the Yazoo Backwater Levee is designed to overtop during a major highwater event. Calculations determined that the YBW Levee would overtop at 56.3’ on the Vicksburg Gage. Today we were at 56.3’ and we still have ~1’ of freeboard. It appears that this overtopping number is a little on the conservation side! At this point it looks like we will only overtop by less than a foot – maybe even less! The poly sheeting is in place on the landside slope of the Yazoo Backwater Levee to protect the levee when it is overtopped. We expect that the YBW Levee will withstand this overtopping event at the current stage forecast

SAND BOILS
Seepwater is a natural phenomenon during a highwater event. Sand Boils occur when seepwater travels fast enough to carry material. If these carry material – it could be creating a cavity or hole. We treat sandboils with sandbags to prevent these from moving material. The Levee Board has responded to numerous sand boils and has corrected each one. This will go on for the next month until the river drops significantly.
There will many sandboils during this historic flood event – please don’t be alarmed were you hear that we have a sandboil on our levee system.

MANY THANKS!
The Levee Board has been assisted the Corps, contractors, county officials, inmates and by numerous volunteers during this highwater event. Contractors have been called at the most inconvenient times and they have stepped up and delivered! Volunteers have showed up at the door asking to help. By the way - if you have any problems near Lake Washington – this community will bring an army to help! Inmates have been called in to handle the tough physical work. County officials have loaned us equipment, operators and materials. People have brought food to the weary staff and crew of the Levee Board. Our Levee Board Commissioners have stepped in to handle media, attend meetings, bringing supplies, carrying sandbags, providing support and even running some equipment! Our small Levee Board staff and crew has split up to handle multiple seepage issues at the same time. Our office girls and attorney have handled all the “crazy” phone calls with eloquence and grace. All of you have contributed to the success of passing this historic 2011 Flood. The Levee Board is very humbled by your support, thoughtfulness and helping hands. Be reminded that when the MS River crests we will still be expecting and fighting underseepage issues for the next month. The Levee Board will not rest until this River drops down ~15’.

RELAX AND ENJOY BEING A PART OF HISTORY
We are fast approaching the historic crest of the 2011 Flood and our Levee Inspectors are busy monitoring the levee. They are doing a great job for us! Our crew is working overtime to make sure our levee system is going to successfully pass this historic flood. The Corps of Engineers is busy assisting us on technical issues. I am very proud of our crew, staff, volunteers, partners and citizens.

The Levee is performing as designed.

[hdforester]

Did Nimrod actually say "RELAX AND ENJOY BEING A PART OF HISTORY"? That seems pretty in sensitive in light of the tremendous losses that people have experienced and the massive cleanup efforts that will be required.

[DanP]

I think he is trying to put the general public at ease at little more.

[4dawgma]

Peter Nimrod? It that his real name?

[Blackduck]

I think he is trying to put the general public at ease at little more.

There are several places that are borderline hysterical.

[Bonecollecter1111]

if its only gonna overtop by a foot or less, why the heck are they not sandbagging the Heck outta that thing to save some cropland and homes??????

[DanP]

if its only gonna overtop by a foot or less, why the heck are they not sandbagging the Heck outta that thing to save some cropland and homes??????

By law they can't build the levee over 107'.

[Bonecollecter1111]

well damnation, sounds like they were a lil short and it just needs to be brought up a foot an half to 107. bet they could even get a hellava lot of farmers and their hands up there to help.

[Hambone]

I think he is trying to put the general public at ease at little more.

There are several places that are borderline hysterical.

Yes, hysteria is running rampant. As a flood victim, I wasn't offended at all by what Mr. Nimrod said. I don't like to be a "victim" nor do I go around looking for reasons to be "offended." But I wish I wasn't quite so personally involved in the history-making.

[1010]

well damnation, sounds like they were a lil short and it just needs to be brought up a foot an half to 107. bet they could even get a hellava lot of farmers and their hands up there to help.

+1000!!! pumps, S bags whatever!!

[DanP]

May 18 Report from MS Levee Board:

GOOD NEWS!

The MS River has crested at Arkansas City and Greenville and is cresting at Vicksburg!



UPDATE – May 18, 2011

CURRENT GAGE READINGS

Arkansas City 52.7’

Greenville 64.0’

Vicksburg 57.1’



MS RIVER FORECAST

Arkansas City Crested May 16th at 53.1’

Greenville Crested May 16th at 64.2’

Vicksburg Cresting at 57.1’

This highwater exceeded the 1973 highwater levels by 6’.

This highwater put us 3.2’ above the 100-year flood on the MS River.

The 100-year flood on the MS River is 61’ at Greenville and 54’ at Vicksburg.



YBW AREA FORECAST

The Steele Bayou Structure is currently holding out 16.8’ of water from inundating the MS Delta!

The River is cresting and the top of the Yazoo Backwater Levee is elevation 107’. The riverside elevation at the beginning of the YBW Levee is at 106.66’. This is 4” from the top! It appears that the YBW Levee will not get overtopped! This is truly fantastic news! Even if something changes we still have the poly sheeting on the landside slope of the YBW Levee to protect the levee if it is overtopped.



SAND BOILS

Seepwater is a natural phenomenon during a highwater event. Sand Boils occur when seepwater travels fast enough to carry material. If these carry material – it could be creating a cavity or hole. We treat sandboils with sandbags to prevent these from moving material. The Levee Board has responded to numerous sand boils and has corrected each one. This will go on for the next month until the river drops significantly.

There will many sandboils during this historic flood event – please don’t be alarmed were you hear that we have a sandboil on our levee system.



LEVEE SLIDE AT GOOSE LAKE ROAD

On Monday afternoon we discovered several sand boils at the toe of the levee and a levee slide on the landside stability berm near Goose Lake Road in south Issaquena County. The Levee Board crew including several Levee Commissioners worked through the night to cap the boils. Material was hauled to the site in the middle of the night. The boils were contained by 6am Tuesday morning. Many thanks to Washington County and a local contractor for helping deliver material including several suppliers who stayed up late loading trucks. The Corps of Engineers started today mobilizing equipment and material to the site to shore up the levee at the levee slide location.



MANY THANKS!

Many thanks to everyone who has prayed for our levee, staff and crew. Your prayers have been answered! Keep them coming! The Levee Board has been assisted the Corps, contractors, county officials, inmates and by numerous volunteers during this highwater event. Contractors have been called at the most inconvenient times and they have stepped up and delivered! Volunteers have showed up at the door asking to help. Inmates have been called in to handle the tough physical work. County officials have loaned us equipment, operators and materials. People have brought food to the weary staff and crew of the Levee Board. Our Levee Board Commissioners have stepped in to handle media, attend meetings, bringing supplies, carrying sandbags, providing support and even running some equipment! Our small Levee Board staff and crew has split up to handle multiple seepage issues at the same time. Our office girls and attorney have handled all the “crazy” phone calls with eloquence and grace. All of you have contributed to the success of passing this historic 2011 Flood. The Levee Board is very humbled by your support, thoughtfulness and helping hands. Be reminded that we are still expecting and fighting underseepage issues for the next month. The Levee Board will not rest until this River drops down ~15’.



THANKS TO THE LEVEE BOARD WIVES AND FAMILIES

Many thanks to the wives and families of the Levee Board staff and crew who have endured a month of “missing” their fathers and husbands because we leave early in the morning and get back late at night and sometimes we don’t get home at all! These families (especially the wives) are to be commended as “heroes” for taking up the slack of us “missing in action” at the home front Our wives field a lot of questions from citizens and relay our information out to the public – either by phone, e-mails, texts, or even Face book! Please thank these wives for enduring this difficult situation and keeping our homes in order!



CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE A PART OF HISTORY!

We have survived the worst of the historic 2011 Flood! This does not mean it is over – underseepage will continue and we will continue to be fighting sandboils. Our Levee Inspectors will continue monitoring the levee 24 hours a day. They have done a great job for us! Our crew is continuing to work overtime to make sure our levee system is going to successfully pass this historic flood. The Corps of Engineers is busy assisting us on technical issues. I am very proud of our crew, staff, volunteers, partners and citizens.



The Levee is performing as designed.

[dukluk]

I thought this part of the report was quite awesome....there is some serious-azzed water headed down between those levees!!!!!

"""At the present, there is a tremendous volume of water flowing down the Mississippi River, approximately 2 million cubic feet per second. Although that number is relatively hard to rationalize, analogies from swimming pools to the Super Dome have been employed.

2 million cubic feet per second (in a perhaps more locally relative figure) would fill up Lake Washington once every 6 minutes, or the Ross Barnett Reservoir once every 2 ½ hours.

It will take time for this water to pass. River stages are projected to hold at near crest elevations for 3-4 days before falling out slowly. Again, to provide perspective, the Mississippi River at Vicksburg is projected to remain above 2008 flood levels for nearly 5 weeks."""

[DanP]

Wednesday, 18 May 2011 - Mississippi River Commission Update
MG Michael J. Walsh, MRC President -- OPERATION WATERSHED --

My team and I spent the day in Vicksburg -- reviewing conditions and system performance, next steps and operation of available features of the flood control system.

The system is performing as designed with floodways, spillways, backwater storage areas, channel improvement, levees/floodwalls, gates, pumps, reservoirs, relief wells, and intensive multi state water mgt. The system is stressed but performing to the level expected -- so far (work even harder and pray). Many people do not realize that the system is incomplete (~89% complete). Based on preliminary estimates with the MR&T system in place the nation has avoided damages in this current epic flood of more than $50B -- according to economists. While many people are suffering the pain and devastation of floodwaters the alternative of no system and/or a failure in the system would be devastating to our nation's economy and quality of life.


The stages and results of the operation of the Morganza Floodway and BC Spillway are attached. The Morganza Floodway (based on current forecasts) will be operated at approx 25%. The river will dictate the amount of water that is needed to be skimmed off the top and released into the Morganza Floodway (keeping no more than 1.5 m cfs passing Baton Rouge). The Bonnet Carre` is open to full capacity (keeping no more than 1.25m cfs passing New Orleans). These flow values reflect the design criteria for the levee system.

NAVIGATION: Vidalia Area - USCG Restricted Zone-USCG approval required to transit. At present all tows are being allowed to pass. Northbound tows are restricted to daylight only. Southbound Tows through upper Baton Rouge bridge are restricted to 20 barges. Daylight only restrictions are in place for southbound tows at Memphis, Greenville , Vicksburg and Baton Rouge bridges. Old River Lock closed 12 May. Will remain closed until Red River Landing stage is below 62.5. Current forecast is 62.2 on 30 May 2011. Port Allen Alternate Route and Atchafalaya River above Morgan City RR bridge closed 16 May until stages drop below 7.5 on Morgan City gage. Considerable shoaling is occurring in SWP. 5 dredges working. No draft restrictions at present.