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WORRIED IN BUTTE LAROSE – The now-passed prospect of the Morganza Spillway opening brought an overflow crowd to the fire station to hear from the Corps of Engineers. Word came on Monday that the structure would not be opened.(Sally Angelle)

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U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS Col. Richard “Rick” Hanson addresses a crowd of Butte La Rose residents in the fire station there when it was thought the Morganza Spillway would have to be opened. (Sally Angelle)

Close call for Butte La Rose

Opening the Morganza Spillway not necessary
Karl Jeter

Residents of the Atchafalaya Basin were breathing a collective sigh of relief on Monday. According to the latest information, the Morganza Spillway will not have to open for the current high-water event in the Mississippi River.
With last week’s projections indicating that the spillway would have to be opened, an estimated 400 concerned residents crowded the fire station here on Thursday, Jan. 7 for a flood response update from the Army Corps of Engineers.
The consequences of spillway opening can be dire for residents of the Atchafalaya Basin.
St. Martin Parish and state officials joined the Corps’ Chief of Public Affairs Ricky Boyett and District Commander and Engineer Col. Richard “Rick” Hanson to inform residents of the latest developments and respond to their concerns.
If the decision had been made to open the spillway it would only have been the third time since its construction in 1955, the last time being in 2011.
The Morganza flood control structure diverts water from the Mississippi down the floodway into the Atchafalaya River. Previous openings have caused considerable damage to farms and homes in the low areas of lower St. Martin Parish.
Hanson said that, at the time of the meeting, indications were that the trigger level of 1.5 million cubic feet per second was expected to be reached by Monday. He added, however, that the Corps wanted to avoid opening Morganza if at all possible.
Guidelines established in 2015 changed the trigger for opening procedures from one based on measured water levels in the Mississippi that indicate a flow of 1.5 million CFS, to a trigger based on a forecast that the level will be reached within 10 days.
The 2011 opening produced a flow estimated at 180,000 CFS through the floodway. Hanson said that the Corps was expecting less water this time, but saturated ground made this event difficult to compare with 2011, when dry conditions reduced flooding. At total capacity Morganza is capable of diverting 600,000 CFS from the Mississipi.
Public comments and questions at the Jan. 7 meeting mostly involved sources of day-by-day information about the Corps’ intentions and timing of evacuation, if it is ordered. Security of evacuated properties was another concern.
Many residents voiced complaints that the Corps had frightened residents with forecasts of extremely high water levels at Butte La Rose in 2011 that did not occur. Some said that they were not going to evacuate this time no matter what the Corps said.
Several said that, because opening of the Bonnet Carre spillway was delayed, Basin residents were “paying the price” to preserve the Lake Pontchartrain oyster industry. Hanson said that an earlier release of water into the lake from Bonnet Carre would not have affected river levels at Butte La Rose. Bonnet Carre was opened on Monday.
Other residents said that the Corps was maintaining too high a level in the river for the benefit of the Sidney A. Murray hydroelectric plant near the Old River, which Hanson denied.
Preservation of the levee system, he said, is the essential motive of the Corps’ decisions, because a levee failure would endanger many more lives and damage much more property than a controlled release at Morganza.
Near the end of the meeting, Jeremy Prejean, a river boat captain, reminded residents that they all knew the risks of living in the basin. Another resident said that without the work of the Corps of Engineers none of them could live where they do.

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