The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Thursday announced that a change in the forecast has delayed the planned opening of the Morganza Floodway from Sunday, June 2 to Thursday, June 6.
"The Mississippi River is predicted to reach 60 ft. at the structure on June 9, 2019 instead of the previously forecasted June 5, 2019," the Corps said in its statement. "The Army Corps of Engineers only intends to operate the structure when needed as to not put additional water into the Atchafalaya Basin."
The Corps announced Monday that it would need to open the Morganza Floodway for only the third time in its history, with the flow rate of the Mississippi expected to reach the trigger point. The Bonnet Carre Spillway in St. Charles Parish is already open -- for the second time this year.
A few dozen miles upriver from Baton Rouge, in Point Coupee Parish, the Morganza Floodway spills Mississippi River floodwater into the Atchafalaya River basin. It was built in 1954 to prevent Mississippi River floods from potentially overtopping the nearby Old River Control Structure.
The ORCS maintains a 70/30 percent split in water flow between the Mississippi and the Atchafalaya, and keeps the Mississippi in its current channel. Without it, a flood could divert the main channel of the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya -- a shorter and steeper route to the Gulf of Mexico than the Mississippi's current channel. A change in river channel would lead to disastrous economic consequences for industries located down river on the Mississippi, as well as U.S. agriculture that depends on the Mississippi to ship its products around the world.