Flooding: Spillways in smaller towns to spare larger towns
Residents boat through a flooded section of the Atchafalaya River Saturday in Simmesport, Louisiana.
May 15th, 2011
01:26 PM ET

Flooding: Spillways in smaller towns to spare larger towns

Residents in towns along the swollen Mississippi River were frantically trying to build levees and place sandbags to protect their homes Sunday as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened two additional gates on the Morganza spillway. The move is aimed at sparing Louisiana's more populated areas from flooding. But opening the Morganza spillway could still affect nearly 4,000 people living in homes or tending farms in the Atchafalaya Basin, Gov. Bobby Jindal says.

What is a spillway?

Late Sunday morning, St. Landry Parish authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation for about 2,000 people in Krotz Springs and Melville, Louisiana. Slightly over 1,000 people live in Krotz Springs, its woodland basin made famous in the Dennis Hopper classic film "Easy Rider." Melville has about the same population.

For the latest news on flooding, CNN.com has the story covered in photos, words and video.

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Filed under: Louisiana • Natural Disasters
soundoff (50 Responses)
  1. libertarian

    You also wouldn't want that water getting into the ground water out west, because its stagnant, filthy water and it would end up causing many of the same problems Haiti is having with theirs'. Now if you were able to build a pipeline system that could hold the volume and pressure of the water and send it out directly into the gulf, say 20 miles or so, then you may have a viable solution.

    May 15, 2011 at 9:42 pm | Report abuse |
    • popeye

      I beg to differ the water in the Mississippi may be dirty but not stagnant ! Stagnation is caused by non moving water more water moves down the Mississippi than any river in the usa.

      May 15, 2011 at 10:00 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Joey

    @ Hagen:
    Good.
    Your characters are more credible.
    Your posts are like the demonstrations of a fake spiritualist medium: so outrageous that one is confused enough to believe that a jar of Vaseline is an apport.

    May 15, 2011 at 9:56 pm | Report abuse |
  3. popeye

    Want to stop trolls cnns ph.#404-827-2600

    May 15, 2011 at 10:03 pm | Report abuse |
    • Jazzzzzzzz

      BOO YA , trolls ... BYE BYE. thanks Popeye

      May 15, 2011 at 10:26 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Joey

    popeye,
    I can tell you know how to take care of yourself.
    Good luck with it.

    May 15, 2011 at 10:15 pm | Report abuse |
  5. libertarian

    Actually I was referring to the fact that it would become stagnant if it were diverted, much they way the water in New Orleans became stagnant, my bad for not clarifying that point though.

    May 15, 2011 at 10:24 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Jazzzzzzzz

    BTW Popeye , Mississippi is beautiful from the view I got on that video.

    May 15, 2011 at 10:25 pm | Report abuse |
  7. libertarian

    Oops meant the not they. Caught that too late I'm afraid. Sorry folks.

    May 15, 2011 at 10:30 pm | Report abuse |
  8. libertarian

    Anyhow have a good one y'all. Yeah I have a little south drawl sometimes for living in the south as a little kid, so what sue me. Can't get blood out of a turnip as they say.

    May 15, 2011 at 10:35 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Richard Thornton

    I guess it was an easy call for Jindal to screw the Cajuns in order to enhance his political standing nationally and simultaneously increase his respect in the large cities where the votes really matter. The hubris of republicans is chilling.

    May 16, 2011 at 7:24 am | Report abuse |
  10. libertarian

    Wouldn't have mattered, if a Democrat had been in office he\she would've opened the gates also. In the end though it never was the Governor's call, the army corps of engineers w
    ould've proceeded as they saw fit as they did in Missouri.

    May 16, 2011 at 6:24 pm | Report abuse |
  11. libertarian

    What the Corps should've done, after it was apparent that it was going to be a long wet winter and spring, was lower the river by 10 feet or so towards the end of winter and held it at that level. If they'd done that we wouldn't be in as big of a mess as we are now, but the army corps has never been known to have an intelligent idea.

    May 16, 2011 at 6:31 pm | Report abuse |
  12. watches blogs

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    May 21, 2011 at 5:10 am | Report abuse |
  13. Observer1290

    Is Obama a liar or just criminally insane?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSYslCRoX7k

    May 30, 2011 at 1:20 pm | Report abuse |
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