Friday, May 13, 2011

H.J. Bosworth, engineer for Levees.org on Fox 8 about river levee safety

Map reveals timeline of Morganza floodway travel
~The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a map that illustrates what residents in the path of flood waters can expect over the next week.
Six hours after the Morganza floodway is opened, water will reach Melville near the Atchafalaya River. Six hours after that, water will move through Krotz Springs and across Hwy. 190. By the end of the day, the water will reach areas near I-10 on the west side of Baton Rouge, covering a path roughly five miles wide
At the 72 hour mark, the water will be closing in on Morgan City, covering an area from Patterson to Schriever.
Eight days after the floodway is opened, the water will reach areas near Cutoff, Larose, Chauvin and Dulac.
Just because a community is in the path of the water does not mean there will be catastrophic flooding. Stay with FOX 8 for the latest on the rising river.
Jindal: Morganza Opening 'Extremely Likely' This Weekend ~WDSU

America's Achilles' heel: the MS River's Old River Control Structure
~Dr. Jeff Master's Wunderblog

~Right: The Army Corps of Engineers' view of Mississippi River peak flow rates during a maximum 1-in-500 year "Project Flood" (U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, 1958.) The places outlined in dotted lines are where the Corps has built "fuse levee" flood control structures capable of diverting a portion of the Mississippi's flow.

Algiers landmark could be destroyed in fight against Mississippi River flooding

High and still rising in Baton Rouge
~Also~Flood Fighting Info from around the state:
~
Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness
~Office of the Mayor, New Orleans
~River Watch, WWLTV
~Retweet @ the Pun~
~Houma, Daily Comet
~Lafayette / Morgan City, Daily Advertiser
~Alexandria, The Town Talk
~Editilla Notellas~ This list will hopefully grow. Please submit other sites in the comments section and we'll post and tweet them.

Corps says if Morganza Floodway is opened, flow may only be a fourth of its capacity~Mark Schleifstein

Mississippi Flood Threatens Louisiana Oil, Gas Output

Clichés, Levees and Federal Funds
~Michael Grunwald


~Stolen from our friends at Slabbed


Largest Gathering of Food Professionals to Convene in New Orleans, June 11-14

Maple Street Book Shop expanding
~Kevin Allman, Gambit


~"Cindy's Garden", acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16"~Polly Jackson

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Explainer: Controlling path of Mississippi River part of problem
~Laura Buchtel, WWL
~Hat Tweet @

Floods are a reminder of the Mississippi River's power
~John Barry

~In 1927, the entire Mississippi River system — which stretches from near Buffalo, N.Y., to the Rockies, from Taos, N.M., deep into North Carolina — was in flood. It killed people from West Virginia to Oklahoma, but along the lower Mississippi it simply shouldered aside all human efforts to control it.

The Importance of the Morganza Spillway~Tim Ballisty
~Hat Tweet @

Sandbags Line Riverfront New Orleans

Workers race to raise levees in downtown BR ~Amy Wold

Flood News Lafayette / Morgan City
~Also~ Daily Comet, Houma
~The Town Talk, Alexandria


Best Show in Town~American Zombie

Why the secrecy? Gert Town community agency won’t show how it’s spending lawsuit windfall
~Jessica Williams, The Lens


~Retweet @~Sen. Landrieu (D-LA) defends oil company tax breaks after taking $3 million from oil industry

Sylvain~Blackened Out

Plaquemines Parish Seafood Festival is this weekend

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Morganza Spillway both helps and hurts ~Amy Wold

~Will you flood?
Citizens can locate their elevation here.


A LOOK BACK: 'Levees-only' policy crumbles after flood
~James Savage wrote this story, about flooding in Louisiana's basin, in 2002 for The Daily Advertiser. As the state braces for what could be more record-breaking flooding from a bulging Mississippi River, this story adds a glimpse into the past

Bracing for floods, Louisiana faces hard choices~Facing South

Mississippi River's flood a battle for all on the river's edge ~James O'Byrne

Mississippi River flooding in New Orleans area could be massive if Morganza spillway stays closed
~Mark Schleifstein

~If the Morganza Floodway is not opened to funnel 300,000 cubic feet per second of water from the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya River basin, the additional water could cause levees to fail along the river from Morganza to Plaquemines Parish, including all of the New Orleans area, resulting in as much as 25 feet of floodwater, according to a map provided to state officials by the Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday.

~Memphis, May 10th, 2011~More satellite images of historic flooding
~Editilla Geotellas~ I live just above the word Memphis, in Midtown.
Now y'all see why I call this a Pig In A Python.

Is the New York Times already blowing the Corps of Engineers horn of SUCCESS with this year's flooding?
~Editilla Notellas~ Just axin. The author of this piece is an American History professor from the University of Central Arkansas and author of The Thousand-Year Flood: The Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937.

Commentary on St Pierre Trial ~American Zombie

Jim Brown makes interesting points; some are even his own
~Mark Moseley, The Lens


Summertime and the living is…easy?
~He Said/She Said NOLA

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Mississippi Rising: Critics Say High Water Result of Man Not Mother Nature ~ABC
~"This is largely a man-made disaster -- to point it only to rainfall is naive," said H.J. Bosworth Jr., civil engineer and director of research for Levees.org. "Yes, there was lots of rainfall, but there was also lots of development. Every time you build a parking lot or a Walmart you add to the burden of the drainage system and all that drainage goes into the Mississippi River."
Both Bosworth and Robert Criss, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis agree that part of the problem is inaccurate assessments by the Corps. "There are plenty of people living in designated 100-year flood plain areas and by government standards that's more like 10-year flood estimates," said Criss. "Every year is a 10-year flood now or worse. ... In terms of the Army Corps of Engineers' flood statistics I was able to show that there's not one chance in a thousand that their statistics are correct."
~Hat Tip~ Levees.org

Harahan Workers Watch Water Rise ~WDSU~John Barry, author of "River Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, said "the levees in the metro area are about seven to eight times stronger than those further north. "The levees we have in the lower portion of the Mississippi are by far the strongest in the U.S.," he said.
~Hat Tweet @skooks

Three Million Acres May Be Flooded in Louisiana, Governor Says ~Bloomberg
High Waters along the MS River
~Hat Tweet @fofalex
~Mississippi River Crests At Nearly 48 Feet In Memphis, TN

The Pig in a Python

~Hat Tweet @Liprap High Water: my Flickr set of Mississippi River pics, taken yesterday.

Flow to trigger Morganza use

Voluntary evacuation order issued
~St. Landry Parish President Don Menard issued a voluntary evacuation of residents east of Port Barre and a mandatory evacuation of all livestock on the levee and surrounding areas Monday. Both Menard and Gov. Bobby Jindal encouraged emergency officials and community members gathered at an emergency preparedness meeting in Krotz Springs on Monday to prepare for the worst."Whether they open the (Morganza) Spillway or not, water's coming over the spillway," Jindal said. "That's just the way it's built, the way it's designed."

Floods along the MS River lead to renewed calls for a change in strategy

Tulane erases scandal-plagued frat house; cop station to rise on cleared Broadway lot ~The Lens

Bigmouth Strikes Again~moosedenied

Am I the only person that is happy Vaggie Bush is time limited with the Saints? ~Slabbed

For Argument’s Sake ~Nola Notes

Cochon chef Stephen Stryjewski wins James Beard Award as Best Chef: South

A Statement of Position(s)
~Blackened Out



Tuba Fats Tuesday festival in Treme
~Red Cotton, Gambit