Key Louisiana Spillway Is Opened
[Posted at 4:10 p.m. ET Saturday] The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Saturday afternoon opened the first of potentially several bays of the Morganza spillway, a flood-control structure along the Mississippi River about 115 miles northwest of Louisiana.
The move - which is likely to be followed by several other bays opening in the next few days - is intended to minimize damage in the region due to excessively high water levels in the river, even as it leads to flooding in the thousands of acres.