Mississippi River Flooding: With New Orleans Levee Pressure Increasing, Bonnet Carre Spillway Opened; Louisiana Governor Declares Statewide Emergency
Newsweek
As the flood-swollen Mississippi River rises across the South into Louisiana, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has opened the Bonnet Carré spillway north of New Orleans in a precautionary move to relieve potential stress on the city’s levees, which protect from catastrophic flooding. The spillway is 28 miles north of New Orleans. Most of the city is at or below sea level, so it is protected by levee systems.