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U.S. NEWS Friday 10 May 2019
Officials seek to open major

spillway on Mississippi River

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Army year has not been average ages in 2011, about $170
Corps of Engineers officials at all," the New Orleans dis- billion of that in Louisiana.
in Louisiana aim to open a trict's deputy commander, Officials said they don't ex-
historic flood control struc- Maj. Jordon Davis, said pect to open the Morgan-
ture above New Orleans Thursday. za Spillway this year.
on Tuesday for an unprec- The water is diverted along Graschel said the lower
edented second time in a 6-mile (9.7-kilometer) Mississippi hit its first peak in
one year. course of guide levees to March and never got down
"It's an unprecedented brackish Lake Pontchar- to normal. It could reach a
amount of water that's train, after which it flows to seasonal norm until some-
coming down," David the Mississippi Sound in the time in July if there isn't any
Ramirez, chief of wa- Gulf of Mexico. additional significant rain in Clarance Ferguson, left, and grandson Demarious Ferguson
ter management for the Moby Solangi, director the Missouri and Ohio river navigate their boat long Hugh Street in south Greenville, Miss.,
Thursday, May 9, 2019.
Corps' New Orleans District, of the Institute for Marine areas, he said.q Associated Press
told reporters Thursday. Mammal Studies in Gulf-
The request for authoriza- port, Mississippi, said he's
tion from the Corps' Missis- concerned about the spill-
sippi Valley Division comes way opening, because it
as floods across the Mid- means that polluted fresh
west have caused billions water will flow into the
of dollars in damage to Sound, a nursery for dol-
homes, farms and business- phins and endangered
es. Kemp's ridley sea turtles.
Continued rains in the Mid- More of those animals died
west and Ohio Valley and in April than in any April
floodwaters from the upper over the past five years, he
Mississippi River are head- said, with 28 dolphins and
ing down the Mississippi, 57 sea turtles found dead.
National Weather Service Solangi said many of the
hydrologist Jeffrey Gra- dolphins had lesions on
schel said. In addition, he their bodies from exposure
noted, storms are expect- to fresh water, which also
ed to dump 5 to 10 inches damages oyster reefs and
(13 to 25 centimeters) of blue crabs, on which the
rain in parts of Louisiana turtles feed, and plants that
and Arkansas. are food for animals lower
The Bonnet Carré Spillway on the food chain.
gets opened to relieve He said 73 dolphins and 79
stress on New Orleans le- sea turtles have died so far
vees when the Mississippi this year. That compares,
flows at 1.25 million cubic for example, to 82 dolphin
feet (35,400 cubic meters) deaths in all of 2016, the
per second — fast enough highest annual total in the
to fill the Empire State Build- past five years. "We haven't
ing in 30 seconds. even started the year and
"The risks in not operating it's 73," he said.
the spillway as it is designed Davis said the Corps has re-
... would be potentially cat- ceived "very inconclusive"
astrophic," corps spokes- reports about the deaths
man Ricky Boyett said. from the National Oceanic
The spillway, completed and Atmospheric Adminis-
in 1931, is a 1.5-mile-long tration.
(2.4-kilometer-long) con- "The wildlife concern is very
struction of 350 concrete real," but the trigger point
bays and 7,000 huge tim- of 1.25 million cubic feet
bers called needles. Its per second is set in law, he
unusually early opening in said.
February marked the 13th Boyett said a 3- to 5-year
time it has been used over- hydrologic study of the Mis-
all, but only the second time sissippi and other rivers in
it's been used in consecu- Louisiana began recently.
tive years. Earlier this year, "It will help us understand
206 bays were opened, if we're doing it the right
discharging 213,000 cubic way," he said.
feet (6,032 cubic meters) of He also said opening the
water per second into the Bonnet Carré and the Mor-
spillway. ganza Spillway further up-
"An average flood season river averted an estimated
is from March to May. This $250 billion in flood dam-