Some who live in Atchafalaya flood- ways behave as either idiots or grifters or both?

Cajuns to blame for their own flood misery?
Not so fast

~ReTweet @karldschott: It looks like this on both sides of the Hwy. No stopping, lots of law enforcement. #Morganza http://lockerz.com/s/103561246

CoreLogic releases Morganza Flood Data
~The analysis from CoreLogic shows that many homes in otherwise low-risk zones are in the path of floodwaters and that a total of 21,272 homes are at risk of being fully or partially inundated by the floodwaters flowing down from the Atchafalaya Basin. Those homes represent 11 percent of the total homes in the nine parishes most directly impacted by the opening of the spillway. The CoreLogic analysis revealed Terrebonne Parish could suffer the highest potential loss with 10,324 homes at risk for flood damage, followed by Saint Mary Parish with 3,777 homes at risk and Assumption Parish with 2,899 homes in the path of spillway floodwaters. Of the more than 20,000 homes located in the overall potential Atchafalaya flood area, 4,528 homes are located outside of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) defined flood zones and are therefore not required to maintain flood insurance policies.

Atchafalaya crest revised down 2 feet

Lower flood projections in Butte LaRose prompt delay of evacuation order

Future uncertain for the uninsured

~ReTweet @ NolaDefender~RT by skooks~In addition to Morganza and Bonnet Carre, another unopened spillway lurks at Caernarvon. Find out its mysteries http://bit.ly/mcBjhX

High water makes Mississippi River dangerous to navigate

Mississippi River water in Missouri being tested for contaminants

Corps Watching Lakes Closely as Weekend Rain Approaches
~It's advising people in flood plains downstream of Beaver, Table Rock, Bull Shoals and Norfork dams in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri to keep an eye on lake levels ahead of this weekend's rains.

On May 20, 2011, Levees.org and Grammy Award-winner Irvin Mayfield Jr. Unveiled a Historic Plaque at the London Avenue Canal levee breach site (east side) in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans. Mr. Mayfield played the first song he ever learned, “A Closer Walk with Thee” on the Elysian trumpet, hand-built by David Monette, the modern master of trumpet design, and dedicated to the memory of Irvin Mayfield, Sr. and all of the victims of the flooding on August 29, 2005. The event closed with the release of two doves by Big Chief Clarence Dalcour of the Tribe Creole Osceola. While the Historic Plaque is Levees.org’s gift to the people of Gentilly, the text was crafted and the location was chosen in collaboration with the neighborhood association leaders and affected residents.

Hurricane prep rally today~Gambit

New command center, new Jefferson Parish administration prepare for hurricane season

Port bill seeks broader powers for director, but scraps plan for more clout in land-taking~Matt Scallan

I get by with a little help...
~American Zombie

Yes! Well! Ahem! Anadarko shares up on speculation of BP settlement

Gulf Coast lawmakers split over BP oil spill money

Healing Center Unwrapped
~Ian Koch, NOLA Defender

Trains!!~Judyb54, NOLAFemmes

The Divine Comedy~NolaRisingArts
~Editilla Crotellas~ Rex gave us permission to hang this beautiful piece da art On Your New Orleans Ladder! High Five! We got so excited that we ran right over to Etsy and purchased it to hang in Editilla's House of Piety upon our return to New Orleans. It will hang with 5 Paintings by Polly Jackson, 4 pieces of Art By Mags, 1 very cool black-heart on wood piece (probably more) by Varg Vargas, 2 large Tapestries by Brenda Brewer, lots of Tiles from Arius Studio - 504 St. Peter Jackson Square (one of my main suppliers, I just love this gallery), my sister's paintings, my own paintings of compass roses, the sculpture 'Equus' by Josh, a 4-Dimensional Book by Herbert Kerney... and whatever else I can get my hands on between now and one fine day.

Rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson still rockin' at 73~Alison Fensterstock

Levees.org commemorates Katrina and says river levees are stronger~WWL

Levees and the illusion of flood control
~Anne Jefferson

Flooded Mississippi River seen from space (VIDEO)


Mississippi River is closed at Baton Rouge after 3 barges sink

Flood battle ‘incredible’, barriers erected at record speed in Atchafalaya

Morganza Floodway after Five Days of Flow
~Five days after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a flood control structure, or spillway, onto the Morganza Floodway, water had spread 15–20 miles (24–32 kilometers) southward across the Louisiana landscape.
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this false-color image of the Morganza Floodway on May 18, 2011. The false–color images combine infrared, red, and green wavelengths to help distinguish between water and land. Clear water is blue, and sediment-laden water is a dull blue-gray. Vegetation is red; the brighter the red, the more robust the vegetation. Gray patches away from the center of the floodway are likely farm fields that have recently been burned or cleared.
The floodway is bounded by a levee on the east side, and a levee and the Atchafalaya River on the west. The 800,000–acre Atchafalaya Basin is the largest swamp in the United States, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Slow as it is, water still rising in Basin
~Claire Taylor

The Lower Atchafalaya River and the GIWW spread Floodwater to the Coastal Marshes~Quinta Scott

~The Lower Atchafalaya River at the GIWW

Health of Lake Pontchartrain: Abnormal, not hazardous, says foundation
~Sediment Plume in Lake Pontchartrain
~The Bonnet Carré Spillway delivered a plume of thick sediment to Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain in mid-May 2011.
Taken on May 17, 2011, this astronaut photo shows a muddy plume in the lake, as well as the sediment-clogged Mississippi River meandering through the city of New Orleans. Water flowing through the spillway into Lake Pontchartrain is also muddy brown.

When swollen Mississippi River subsides, crawfish will be easy pickins
~Also~In Cajun Country, the Crawfish Are Biting, Flood or No Flood

Mississippi River flood of 2011 sets all-time flow record, but has crested
~Jeff Masters, Wunderblog

~ReTweet @bldgblog~Photos of homes turned into tiny islands by DIY levees: http://is.gd/wRiJN2

Federal help sought for fishing, hunting, tourism businesses affected by Mississippi River flooding

Mississippi floods threaten gas prices

What do Ken Feinberg and the former IMF head accused of sexual assault have in common?
~Disenfranchised Citizen

It's not funny any more
~American Zombie

New Orleans' top police officers all about protecting themselves
~Jarvis DeBerry

Jindal's revised proposal shuts 4 prisons in Central Louisiana

Party party party party party: Commencé au festival ~Slabbed

Are you a Bad Girl?
~Lauren LaBorde, Gambit

Zouxzoux // My secret voice whispering in your ear…

Handmade Nation - Free Screening!
~New Orleans Craft Mafia

One Place to Eat Before You Die in N.O.
~He Said/She Said NOLA

Alan Lomax And The Beginning Of Jazz

Second line Sunday: 34th annual Money Wasters Parade
~Red Cotton, Gambit

Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo starts tonight!

Corps of Engineers races against project delays and costs over-runs to finish New Orleans hurricane defense
~Despite these (the Corps well-marketed and branded) engineering achievements, Levees.org still questions the overall quality of New Orleans' storm defenses. "There are issues in the system that are not as strong as we'd like to see," said H.J. Bosworth, civil engineer for the group. If the government were to build certain levees 3 to 5 feet higher, Bosworth said, the city would have much better protection from Lake Borne, "which is our vulnerable side." Two stretches of levee catch his attention-- the leg running from Irish Bayou to Lake Pontchartrain and another section in St. Bernard, running east to west from the MS River.

Harry Shearer on Tavis Smiley

Mississippi flooding raises questions about river management

Rising Mississippi River pushing debris downstream~John Pope

~Hat Tweet @fofalex~Awesome daily sat views at LSU Earth Scan Lab http://www.esl.lsu.edu/home/ Sadly no Morganza view but check out birds foot delta

Atchafalaya swell is on the way as Butte La Rose residents told to evacuate by Sheriff’s Office~Also~The Governorcist inspects Bayou Black flood preparations
~Natchez: crest lowered, crews take off layer of Silver Street levees

opening Morganza~hungry termite

Could flooding restore coast?
~Nikki Buskey

He said it ~Disenfranchised Citizen
~“I sent an email to President Obama saying, ‘You are a fucking traitor,’ using those words… ‘You’re a traitor, you allowed foreign boots on our soil telling our military — in this case the coastguard — what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do’.”
- Peter Fonda

Mark St. Pierre owned more of city vendor firm than he has claimed, records show

There is a common criminal masquerading as Sheriff in Plaquemines Parish ~Slabbed

Despite health fears, trailers are housing disaster victims
~Ariela Cohen, The Lens
~Also~The Lens Salon: You’re invited

New Orleans Wine & Food Experience offers something for everyone
~Todd A. Price

Geaux Plates ~Blackened Out


*

All Mississippi River flood control structures employed~Amy Wold
~15 bays at Morganza Spillway now open
~Parishes work to block bayous, canals
~Basin prepared for flooding
~High water, high school, high crawfish prices?
~RT @Opinionatedcath Opinionated Catholic~VIDof MUDDY! Sand Boil in Riverbend Subdivision (Baton Rouge) :( http://youtu.be/AbcXT2XQumU Discussion here http://bit.ly/kUWDmu #flood

About the Mississippi Flood of 2011: what we're saving, and for whom ~Fofalex

Flooding In Louisiana's Great Basin:
A Good Thing?~Greg Allen, NPR

PHOTOS: Wildlife flees from rising waters ~WWL
~Enforcement agents from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries responding to flooding in Louisiana captured images of wildlife fleeing water that has displaced them from their habitats.
~More Satellite images of Water in the Morganza Floodway

As floodwaters approach, many homeowners are not insured

In the Louisiana bayou, resilience trumps fear~Defend New Orleans

Natural Disasters and NASA—What Is The Agency’s Role? An Interview with Michael Goodman

~ReTweet @ LeveesOrg~Don't miss Unveiling of our Second Historic Plaque with Irvin Mayfield Jr. Friday May 20 at 6pm - 4902 Warrington Dr. http://bit.ly/j6AhQK

Three Louisiana oil claims facilities to close June 1~Alex Woodward, Gambit

Education proposal: Corporations could reserve student places, board seats in charter schools~Bill Barrow

Armed robberies multiply across Uptown ~Uptown Messenger

Street artist and NOLA Transplant 'Swoon' in June at New Orleans Museum of Art~Doug MacCash

For the Fishermen~NOLAFemmes
~Also~Please help Louisianians in the path of the Morganza floodwaters

Skip the Rapture: Eat at MiLa
~He Said/She Said NOLA

Winesday ~Blackened Out

Wednesday's at the Square: Iguranas!

Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo shines a spotlight on the Bayou St. John

CNN piece on flooding, featuring HJ Bosworth Jr, civil engineer and lead researcher for Levees.Org

*
Video - Landrieu tells nation:
''New Orleans is safe''

Excellent Mississippi River flooding photo gallery~The Times-Picayune
~Days after the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway, the darker brackish water of Lake Pontchartrain, bottom, merges with the muddier fresh water from the Mississippi River near the Causeway Monday, May 16, 2011.
(Times-Picayune photo by Susan Poag)

Flooding estimates reduced, Corps issues new 'updated' flood maps
~New flood maps show flooding in the Atchafalaya River Basin from the swollen Mississippi River will be less than previously expected, but there’s still a lot of water on the way as evacuations and countermeasures, including levee building, and barge sinking, continued Monday.~Click here for new flood maps from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website
~15 bays are currently open at the Morganza Spillway

Morganza Flood: Part 3~Bayou Woman

Atachafalaya after Morganza Opening: Where the water goes; when does it get there~Quinta Scott

MS River flood evacuees move into enclave built for Hurricane Katrina

Corps' advance flood maps spur confusion about flood risks.
Is operation mere Corps PR?
~Work continues to protect Gibson area homes, schools
~Right: View of the Bonnet Carrre spillway fully open to the lake, 2011 (enlarge)
~Very Special Thanks to Thomas Pickral for photo @pickral~Hat Tweet @JuliaPretus

Coast Guard closes MS River at Natchez

Big Oil...they never sleep
~American Zombie
~Also~HB 563, 564...who's who?

Ronal you ignorant slut ~Slabbed

Corruption as an offensive strategy?
~Lunanola, NOLAFemmes

New Orleans picked #1 City for Information Jobs In The U.S.
~Joel Kotkin, Forbes
~Big Hat Tweet @captainsdead @neworleanstech

~Retweet @drewbrees Drew Brees! Only $2 raffle tix for once in a lifetime opportunity to train w/ Saints Wed May 25. http://bitly.com/jYBuaT Will choose 4 winners by Friday

For Louisiana Seafood...
Europe Is the New World

~Possibly Editilla's favorite shirt from the Dirty Coast!

How To Wheatpaste ~Nola Anarcha

Alex Woodward on the burgeoning St. Claude arts district, which is bringing theaters, nightspots and galleries ... but few essential services ~Gambit

Yay! NOLA Brewing has a new blog!

This is Beautiful, what is this, Velvet? ~Blackened Out

Satellite Photo of Morganza Spillway
~On May 15, the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this natural-color image (top) of the Morganza Floodway. The image was acquired at 11:20 a.m. Central Daylight Time, one day after the spillway was partially opened. ~Hat Tweet @judyb1954

~More satellite images of Mississippi river floods around Memphis, from NASA LANDSAT

MS River closed at Natchez due to record flooding

New flood maps released by Corps
~Daily Comet

Corps of Engineers opens more floodgates to relieve river pressure
~Market Watch

Will the levees hold?

Mississippi River flooding moving south slower than expected, Jindal says
~Mark Schleifstein

Mississippi River flooding threat brings out one town's Cajun ingenuity
~Paul Rios

Owen Courrèges: The latest lie about New Orleans~Uptown Messenger

~Retweet @ LeveesOrg~Tonight on CNN: Civil engineer HJ Bosworth Jr w/ LeveesOrg interviewed by Dave Mattingly 7 EST on Miss River flooding in Louisiana.

Locals in Terrebonne and Lafourche prep as floodwaters stream south

Terrebonne, Assumption get federal aid to help fight flood

Many in way of diverted Mississippi River floodwaters ignore evacuation order~Standing on the banks of the Atchafalaya, where the water was about 6 feet below the top of the levee, Mike Gauthier vowed to stay, even though he expects flooding to be worse than in 1973.
"It will take more than this to throw me out of here, " he said. "If things get bad, I've got a houseboat in my back yard." If the town isn't washed off the map, Gauthier said he's looking forward to the fishing. "After the 1973 flood, you could throw a line anywhere with any bait and catch a fish. I don't think Aunt Jemima could sell enough corn meal for all the fish we caught, " he said. "Not only that, I ate so much crawfish that I almost started walking backwards."

"Planning" for high water
~Baton Rouge Advocate

Corps moves 5th dredge into Southwest Pass, vital shipping artery

Union Jack spared island torching
~Members of the SLO (Shrimp Liberation Organization) protest Saturday in Grand Isle, LA

Film-O-Rama continues at the Prytania Theatre through Thursday!

Bayou Boogaloo/Bayou St. John Bank Build~Watershed NOLA

Mid City Bayou Boogaloo May 20-21st!

At Epicenter of 1927 River Flood, A Town On Edge~Chris Kirkham
~GREENVILLE, Miss. -- There’s an old saying in this stretch of the South: "The people of the Delta fear God and the Mississippi River." That phrase has an added significance in this river town of about 35,000 people. It was just north of Greenville that the river burst its seams in 1927, causing the largest levee break in the history of the Mississippi Valley and forever changing the fate of this Delta town. ~Hat Tip to LaCoastPost
~Editilla Beautellas~ You can look on a map and find where I grew up "just north of Greenville". My father was 7 yrs old in 1927. My grandfather lost a lot of land to that flood -though more, I'm told, to the great depression which followed.

~Editilla Crowtellas~ We are gratified to note that Your New Orleans Ladder is now clocking an average 700 hits/day (hpd), cracking 1200 the past 2 days. Due in no small measure to our non-stop, maniacal coverage of the 2008 Great Midwest Floods (see archives), as well as no sleep par for the course during entire Hurricanes, we've seen this happen upon the advent of catastrophic threats be they a Natural or Man-made Disaster such as the BP Oil Crime last year.
When the shit hits the fan Gentle'rillas climb this Ladder.
My behavior during such events is due directly and painfully to the 1st week of the Federal Flood of New Orleans 8/29/05. I cannot explain it past that, though often will find myself apologizing to someone who inadvertently (or not) crossed The Line with your ho ho homble Editilla. Shall we suffer the slings of outrageous horse shit? Nay I say. Take arms against a sea of Corps Engineers, and by opposing end them? Weellll, how'bout We just give'em the finger and let it ride.
I do hope everyone gets what they need here. We call it Stitch'hiking the Internets. Thanks yous all for dropping by!

Mississippi River replacing Lake Pontchartrain~WVUE

River level views from the French Quarter ~Kandace Graves, Gambit
~With the Mississippi River just a half-foot from cresting in New Orleans, here are a couple of pictures taken at the Moonwalk in the French Quarter

~Retweet @ fofalex~Mississippi River photo set. From 9 mile point, Carrollton, the Fly, and IHNC inlet. http://bit.ly/jMzybe

Many are getting the terms Floodway and Floodplain mixed up
~Sandy Rosenthal

~Retweet @ WBRZ~Four bays are now open in the Morganza spillway, according to @StephanieWBRZ, who is with the Army Corps of Engineers. #flood
~Retweet @ WBRZ~Picture from above 5 miles south of the Morganza Spillway, from WBRZ photographer Chris Sasser http://yfrog.com/gypjhzbj

~Retweet @ lizzieohreally Lizzie O'Leary~West Baton Rouge bank. Flooded refinery docks on opposite side. yfrog.com/gzvf0uadj
~Retweet @lizzieohreally Lizzie O'Leary~These folks are not going with a piecemeal evacuation approach. yfrog.com/hsrvlmmj

Mandatory Evacuations ordered for part of St. Landry Parish

Residents in Morganza Spillway pack up belongings but many refuse to go

In Gibson, LA 'What gives them the right to flood us?'

USDA to pay for flood-damaged crops in Atchafalaya Basin

Mississippi floods strain levee system; defy efforts to control river
~Seen from high above, the Mississippi River inundates fields just north of Caruthersville, Mo., and west of Ridgely, Tenn., in this image taken by an Expedition 27 crew member aboard the International Space Station on Thursday.

New Orleans family oyster company sees only dark days ahead
~Bret Anderson

Dragon boats draw thousands to Red River in Alexandria ~Town Talk

Mississippi River flood claims Tunica's Riverpark Museum in North MS

Bonnet Carre' Spillway Gallery
~Coleen Perilloux Landry

A Watery Weekend
~Judyb54, NOLAFemmes

Audubon Park Bird Island mysteriously abandoned~Bruce Eggler

Nagin's Impending Book and Trial
~The Frog Pond

Mister Piggy endorses Miss Piggy. A pigs love mud update ~Slabbed

New Orleans is trying loans to entice grocers to the city~Cullen Wheatley
~On an uncharacteristically cool Thursday in May, construction crews at the corner of St. Claude and St. Roch avenues are hustling to finish work on the New Orleans Food Co-op, a purple, pink and orange beacon of recovery that sits in a neighborhood speckled with Hurricane Katrina X's.