Mississippi River spillway opened as towns brace for floodwater

Authorities could open two additional floodgates Sunday, sending water from the swollen Mississippi River gushing toward homes and farmland in an effort to spare Baton Rouge and New Orleans from severe flooding.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened one floodgate on Saturday for the first time in nearly 40 years.

"As the river needs it, we'll open it," said Col. Ed Fleming, the Corps' New Orleans district commander.

Fleming said that depending on water levels, the Corps may open more than two gates.

The opening of the Morganza spillway prompted the National Weather Service to revise its flood forecasts for the lower Mississippi River.

The revised forecasts have lowered projected cresting levels in some Louisiana cities and towns, according to the weather service.

The Morganza spillway is about 115 miles northwest of New Orleans.

The spillway's opening has also moved up the dates the river was previously predicted to crest in those cities.

In Baton Rouge, where the weather service had previously predicted the Mississippi would crest at 47.5 feet on May 22, the latest forecast shows the river will top out at 45 feet on Monday.

In New Orleans, the river is now expected to reach its crest at 17 feet on Sunday, instead of 19.5 feet on May 23, according to the weather service. The New Orleans levees are built to withstand 20 feet.

The river is also predicted to crest Sunday near Arkansas City, Arkansas, at 53 feet -- 16 feet above the flood stage, the National Weather Service noted on its website.

In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the river is expected to crest at 57.5 feet Thursday, which is significantly above the flood stage at Vicksburg of 43 feet.

Residents near Vicksburg counted on a levee for protection. In addition to the mainline levee along the river, starting near Vicksburg and extending northeast for more than 20 miles, a so-called backwater levee offers shelter.

The backwater levee is designed to keep water from backing into the Yazoo River delta and is designed lower than the mainline levee so that water can flow over it.

"We estimate that every home built on the river side of the levee from Memphis all the way to the Louisiana line is flooded," said Mike Womack, executive director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Flood stage is the level at which the river may begin flowing over its banks. That crest, or high point of water, has been moving slowly and steadily southward for several weeks.

No storm systems that could reverse the lowered cresting forecasts are expected to pass through region within the next five days, said Royce Fontenot of the National Weather Service.

Fleming said the difficult decision to open the spillway, and similar ones made in recent weeks, was done to address a historic excess of water in the Mississippi River system, including its tributaries. While the opening of the spillway is expected to divert water away from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, parts of low-lying south-central Louisiana will be flooded.

By Saturday afternoon, all those "within the first 24 hours" -- meaning, those who should see flooding caused directly by the spillway's opening -- had evacuated, Fleming said.

The opening came after several days of warning as residents in the flood zone prepared to move to save their lives.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the high water resulting from the Morganza spillway opening could affect 3,900 people and 2,600 structures.

"Right now, a lot of people are real nervous about it. It's sad," said Larry Doiron, a resident of Stephenville, a town facing flooding because of the spillway's opening.

"We need to have protection so that they don't flood us."

He said his subdivision would likely be fine because it was built at a relatively high elevation, but his neighbors were building additional levees and putting out sandbags.

Seven Louisiana parishes -- Pointe Coupee, St. Landry, St. Martin, Iberia, Iberville, St. Mary and Terrebonne -- will likely be affected by the first opening of the spillway since 1973, according to the Corps.

Fleming said Saturday that the spillway will likely be open for weeks, and it will be at least that long before those who have evacuated can safely return. It will take considerable time -- in some cases, weeks -- before the river falls back below the flood stage.

Morgan City, which sits on the banks of the Atchafalaya River, is also among those communities expected to see rising water.

"Really, we're just waiting," said Evie Bertaut, who has lived in the city for 50 years.

Officials believe that the levees will protect the city from flooding, but some are taking preliminary precautions, she said. At Sacred Heart Church, where Bertaut works, people spent the day Friday moving important documents such a baptismal, marriage and financial records to the second floor.

"Most people are getting their photographs together, things that you can't replace in case you have to go," she said.

The river's slow pace has given emergency responders more time to prepare, forecasters said.

Across the South and lower Midwest, floodwaters have covered about 3 million acres of farmland, eroding for many farmers what could have been a profitable year for corn, wheat, rice and cotton, officials said.

Farmers who have crop insurance and whose crops have been damaged by the flooding will be eligible for crop insurance in accordance with their policies, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.