Flooding Expected After Morganza Spillway Opens

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – Officials are expected to open the Morganza Spillway northwest of the capital later this week, an action last taken almost 40 years ago. The Army Corps says the result will be floodwater possibly reaching 25 feet in some areas as it runs through the Atchafalaya River Basin to the Gulf of Mexico. Local officials in seven parishes will coordinate evacuations. One of the areas that could see 25 feet of water is St. Francisville, a community of about 17-hundred people on bluffs about 30 miles north of Baton Rouge. Some low-lying roadways near the river in St. Franciscville are now closed off. The Corps says it is monitoring weather and river conditions before deciding if it's necessary to open the spillway.
For WWNO, I'm Eileen Fleming.