father of waters causing huge problems

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by Danzig

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43031789/ns/weather/


what that article doesn't say about the morganza spillway is that they don't know that the thing will close again.
shipping may be cutoff from baton rouge south. this will affect not only the local economy, but the nation as well.

how many of those here know that you can reach the atlantic ocean thru the mississippi and up thru the great lakes? not if the father of waters gets closed.


another article i read talked about the flooding here in the arkansas delta. levees were purposely blown to save cities, to prevent other levees from failing and putting thousands of people and businesses under water. arkansas grows half the countries' rice. flooding has covered many farms, wiping out crops. look for corn, rice, and soy prices to skyrocket. crop insurance will only cover some of their losses. topsoil will be covered by sand and other flotsam left behind. farmers will attempt to start over, but yields will be lower.
we live 15 minutes from the ouachita (wa-shi-tah) river. the dam south of the port here is below the current water level, thus doing nothing to control flow.

Terrible situation for all involved, doesn't seem to be any good answers, thousands will suffer no matter what action is taken. My prayers are with everyone!

[dellinger63]

A lot of other farms not affected by flood are behind last year and will surely compound the shortage. We'll all be paying for this everytime we eat but at least most will be sitting in a house above water. Thank God farmers are tough!

[Riot]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Terrible situation for all involved, doesn't seem to be any good answers, thousands will suffer no matter what action is taken. My prayers are with everyone!

Ditto. We've been fighting the normal changing of course of our major rivers for the past 200 years, slowing them, narrowing them, removing their floodplains, as we decided they needed to stay in one predictable channel so we could build and settle alongside them. Now we are confronted with the consequence of our commitment to how we have managed our waterways, as to not lose the ports and industry at New Orleans. At the expense of thousands of rural people, and acres of valuable farmland. Sad choice.

what that article doesn't say about the morganza spillway is that they don't know that the thing will close again.

You made the point right there.

Wikipedia has been updated with flood plain info for Morganza: