BUTTE LAROSE, La. – Cajun country residents threatened by Mississippi River flooding were packing their things Friday as they anxiously awaited word on when federal engineers could open a massive spillway that would inundate hundreds of thousands of rural acres and swamp thousands of homes.
The Army Corps of Engineers is close to opening the key Morganza floodway to relieve pressure on the levees downstream that protect the more densely populated Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas. The corps could make the move as early as this weekend, though officials stress that no final decision has been made.
Still, the governor has warned residents in the spillway’s path to assume they’ll have to leave their homes. With that threat looming, some 25,000 people in an area known for small farms, fish camps, crawfish and a drawling French dialect are hurriedly packing and worrying that their homes and way of life might soon be drowned.
At a meeting Tuesday, Army Corps of Engineers Col. Ed Fleming warned a crowd at a volunteer fire station that where they were standing was projected to be swamped by up to 15 feet of water from Mississippi River flooding. The crowd let out a collective gasp.
“From the ground?”
Read More from the Article Source: Full Article
