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One thing is certain, regardless of how much infrastructure is built up along major waterways such as the Mississippi, they will periodically reclaim territory occupied by communities living along their riverbanks
May 13, 2011 | 11
The Army Corps of Engineers began opening Louisiana's Bonnet Carre Spillway on May 9 to reduce the volume of water heading toward New Orleans.
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Thousands of people attended the opening throughout the day.
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A spillway is simply a "flow control structure," whereby excess floodwaters can be safely diverted out of a river or around a dam, says Rogers.
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By the end of Friday, May 13, a total of 264 spillway bays (out of 350) were to be opened at Bonnet Carre, according to the Corps, which plans to open additional bays as needed.
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Current flood conditions can in part be traced back to a number of factors, including the buildup of shallow flood barriers atop loose soil along the Mississippi and its tributaries over time that narrowed their pathways....[More]
We have probably diked off too much of the river's active flood plain; in many cases close to 90 percent of the historic flood plain, Rogers says.
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A controllable spillway employs movable gates to regulate the volume of flow being discharged.
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At the Bonnet Carre Spillway, two cranes are used to individually lift timbers from bays of the spillway and place them horizontally across the structure....[More]
View of explosives barge after being set in place alongside levee at upper crevasse (first breach, inflow) of Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway, May 2, 2011.
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breached the levee at Birds Point as part of the activation of the floodway.
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11 Comments
Add CommentSo what do the global warming deniers have to say now that the effects are being seen on the Mississippi River?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWithout denying or confirming global warming, waiting until the rivers crest has been proven to be not the way to go. If diversion had taken place when the rivers approached the spring melt and rain (which everyone knew was coming)might have been a better choice to open flood gates for gradual relief than waiting for the torrent. Once again I see the water flooding the plain could be used in drought areas that are suffering at the same time as the plains are flooding. Present technology can offer diversion techniques without flooding additional land while putting many many Americans to work building the diversion system. No doubt improvements to present technology could be accomplished but that would only put more people to work. Build conduits along the interstate system now to divert water from future floods and store it in resevoirs for the future global water shortages that have been forecast or route it to drought areas immediately as it is diverted. The Everglades are almost dry and other parts of the nation need water to save crops. Too late this time but not to avoid the next crisis.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm not a dedicated global warming denier; although, I question some of the so-called proof. The Mississippi has flooded for hundreds of years during our occupation of North America. Recent floods have been exacerbated by poor engineering decisions made since 1927. As more people inhabit the area, the floods will become more and more disasterous. But to say the the current flood is caused by GW is a real stretch.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso, by your reasoning, the coldest April on record in the Northwest poinst to global cooling and an imminent Ice Age.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey don't wait for the crest. The ACOE uses a trigger flow rate, then opens the gates. This is well before the crest occurs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt will be interesting to see if the flooded farm land produces better after the nutrients and sediments are deposited...maybe flood gates should be built that can flood certain areas in one year and other areas in another year...replenishing used/extracted nutrients...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJust a couple of observations stewie;
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisa) Tectonic activity makes your idea of subteranian cities really silly.
b) Rumor has it that you are mentally ill.
It is nice to see that someone has the ability to think rationally. Flood plains that flood regularly are some of the most fertile in the world. Flood plains that are prevented from flooding have significant drops in productivity over time. Too bad the powers that be don't have that much mental capacity. This A.C.E. guy makes more sense than most but still isn't quite there yet.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere's not much can be done about the rivers' flooding. But there's alot to be done to save property:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe gov't should require [through insurance companies, FEMA, or other] that all new building in floodplanes shall be mounted on steel barges. Instead of basements, homes shall be built atop a steel or re-enforced concrete buoyant platform. They shall have sloped sides like the bow of typical river barges. They shall be anchored, in four directions, with buried mushroom anchors and heavy chains painted with rubberized epoxy paint. The "barges" may be inset into the ground. When the flood comes the building will simply float up and not drift away. Perhaps the four corners of each building should have retractable/extendable legs, like a PU camper shell, so that after the flood the house can be held aloft and prevented from resettling into its hole until such time and the hole is re-excavated to it's original shape, and the house can be lowered back down.
The added cost can be somewhat amortized by reduced insurance premiums, perhaps in a plan administered by the Federal Government and financed by 0.5% bonds sold to rich Republicans and rendered invisible to the poor blokes who can't afford to live on hillsides.
Perhaps there should be pre-planned designated areas to be flooded, like as you say, during low stages ahead of the crest. This should be done, to varying degrees, most years, during spring floods. Rotate designated areas succeeding years.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso flood large areas and retain the water, not let it drain back into the river after flood stage. These areas could be an agricultural reserve. Also, if large enough in areal extent would have a significant effect on the weather; retaining a wetter atmosphere in the center of the continent later in the year, thus encouraging more reforestation and enabling crops higher in carbon content downwind of the "flood plains".
So, the farther west [ie: upwind] water can be captured the better.
Not an imminent ice age, simply a reordering of weather patterns due to a steepening temperature gradient with altitude [warmer near the ground, and cooler near the stratosphere] due to the increasing "foggy" appearance of the atmosphere as would be seen in the infrared if we could see in the infrared.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMost areas of the globe are warming, fewer areas are cooling. Various computer climate models showed this would happen even back in the 80's. Remember, higher temperature at the ground -> greater evaporation -> more cloud cover downwind -> cooler daytime ground temperature there -> change in surface wind patterns, etc. This is why we pay smart people to figger it out!