Well, the Morganza Spillway was opened today in order to help avoid flooding metropolitan areas in the state of Louisiana. This is the first time since 1973 that the spillway has been opened (photo from 1973 below taken from here).
The expectation is that the spillway will be opened to operate at 25% capacity and may stay open for 3 weeks. Our local paper ran some numbers to figure out how much water is running through the spillway. Check this out:
According to the Tulane University athletics' website, the Superdome in New Orleans encompasses 125 million cubic feet of space...And if, as the Corps anticipates, 25 percent of the Morganza's 600,000 cubic feet of water per second capacity is used — 150,000 cubic feet of water per second — the water would fill the Superdome in just under 14 minutes.That is crazy. And it may be open for 3 weeks....
Here is a map I found today on Nola.com that shows the river system and the control structures around the Baton Rouge area. You can see where Lafayette is (where we live) on the map as well. We are out of the danger area but 25,000 people are not
2 comments:
The reality of the situation, rather the gravitas of the situation still has not hit me. The numbers you've shared are astonishing. It's actually quite scary.
Agreed. It defies comprehension.
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