The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today began opening the Bonnet Carre Spillway to stop the rising water levels on the Mississippi River as it heads towards New Orleans.
Col. Mike Clancy with the Corps of Engineers New Orleans District says a tremendous amount of rain has fallen upstream.
"Since August, it's been the wettest year in 124 years in the Mississippi Valley. There is flooding in the Ohio Valley, the Cumberland Valley, the Tennessee Valley, the Mississippi Valley," said Col. Clancy. "The Mississippi River drains 41 percent of the United States. It drains all or part of 38 states. All that water comes our way."
The corps plans to open the spillway to a little more than half its maximum capacity for about a month, depending on how much more rain falls upriver.
