After a record-setting year of flood-fighting on the Mississippi River, another record is being set today: Day 76 of the Bonnet Carre spillway being open.
"It's certainly been a long season for us," said Derek Boese, Chief Administrative Office with the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. Boese said it's not just the record 76 straight days of the spillway being open -- on top of the 43 days that it was open from February to March. He says they've been dealing with higher-than normal river levels since last fall.
"We've been in a high river situation for over eight months," said Boese. "This year, for whatever the particular reason, you had so much rain up north that has continued for a long period of time. We've been here since, you know, November of last year watching very carefully."
With the water finally receding, the flood authority and the Army Corps of Engineers will inspect the river side of levees to see how they held up to months of sustained water pressure.
"You have pressure up against it for so long, because we haven't been able to observe everything, so we'll watch and continue to monitor and look for anything that might have been damaged or we might have a concern about."
Combined with the February/March opening, it is 119 days and counting of total days with an open spillway this year.