U.S. Army engineers on Saturday prepared to open a key spillway to allow the swollen Mississippi River to swamp thousands of homes and acres of crops but spare Louisiana's two largest cities from flooding, Reuters reported. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was expected to open the Morganza Spillway, a series of floodgates 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Baton Rouge, the state's capital and second largest city. The move, last taken in 1973, would channel water toward homes, farms, a wildlife refuge and a small oil refinery in the Atchafalaya River basin to avoid flooding Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Some 3,000 square miles (7,770 sq km) of land could be inundated in up to 20 feet (6 meters) of water for several weeks. On Friday, the president of the Mississippi River Commission, Major General Michael Walsh, ordered the Corps to operate the floodgates when flows reached 1.5 million cubic feet per second at Red River Landing north of Baton Rouge. As of Friday morning, the last available measurement, flows were 1.45 million cubic feet per second. Failing to open the spillway could put New Orleans at risk of flooding that, according to computer models, could eclipse that seen during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when 80 percent of the city was flooded. About 1,500 people died in the disaster. In addition to threatening densely populated areas, lower Mississippi flooding could force shutdowns of as many as eight refineries and at least one nuclear power plant alongside the river. The refineries make up about 12 percent of the nation's capacity for making gasoline and other fuels. About 2,500 people live in the spillway's flood path, and 22,500 others, along with 11,000 buildings would be affected by backwater flooding when the spillway was opened. Backwater flooding is water pushed back into streams and tributaries that cannot flow as normal into what will be an overwhelmed Atchafalaya River. Officials in affected areas were going door to door to notify residents in areas likely to be flooded by diverted waters. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said on Friday the state had plans with the American Red Cross to provide shelters for evacuees. Some 18,000 acres (7,300 hectares) of cropland could be flooded as waters rise, hitting their crest in about a week and remaining high for several weeks before subsiding Corps officials were expected to speak to reporters at 1 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) at the Morganza spillway. The Corps opened the Bonnet Carre spillway last week in New Orleans to allow water to flow into Lake Pontchartrain, and placed sandbags along the Mississippi River's banks.
