Missouri and Army Corps Face Off Over Levee

[American Patriot]

Missouri and Army Corps Face Off Over Levee



By JOE BARRETT

The Missouri attorney general and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prepared to face off in federal court Thursday afternoon over a Corps plan to activate a floodway that would damage a rich farming area to ease record flood levels at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
No decision has been made about whether to blow up a levee just downstream from Cairo, Ill., but the Corps has been making preparations in case the activation of the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway is deemed necessary. Rising floodwaters are approaching the 1937 record of 59.5 feet on the Ohio River at Cairo. The reading this morning was 58.74 feet, with an expected crest this weekend at 60.5 feet.
Risk Levels

See the latest data from flood gauges throughout the Midwest and South.
View Interactive

• More photos and interactive graphics

Opening the floodway would divert about a quarter of the flow of the Mississippi River, lowering river levels by three to four feet upstream on both the Ohio and Upper Mississippi Rivers, a Corps spokesman said. Cairo, which is at the confluence, is a town of around 3,000 residents and is surrounded by aging levees.
Chris Koster, the Missouri attorney general, has said that the plan would severely damage some 130,000 acres of farmland. He urged the court to halt the plan and order the Corps to consider other options.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a brief Thursday on the state's behalf and asked to be named a co-defendant with the Corps, arguing that the Corps has the right to activate the spillway to reduce flooding in other areas. The brief said that if Cairo's levee was breached, the city would be flooded with 18 to 20 feet of water.
The Corps said the 1928 Flood Control Act gives the president of the Mississippi River Commission the authority to activate the Floodway when the Mississippi reaches 58 feet at Cairo on its way to 61 feet.
The plan would require the Corps to blow a 2,000-foot-wide hole in a levee near the top of the Floodway to let water in. Twenty-four hours later, the Corps would open two additional holes near the bottom of the Floodway to let the water flow back out.
Major Gen. Michael Walsh, president of the River Commission—a group of Army and civilian civil engineers appointed by the president and charged by law with overseeing flood control on the river—said Thursday he would continue to monitor river levels over the weekend and couldn't be sure whether he would order the opening of the Floodway. But he said if water started to flow over the levee near Cairo and threaten a breach, he might be forced to act. "I would rather that happen in a controlled area than an uncontrolled area," he said.
Write to Joe Barrett at joseph.barrett@wsj.com

[Luke]

My Dad used to do a lot of levee work. Never had much good to say about Corp of Engineers.

Koster seems ok to me, I would look for him to advance politicaly.

[vector7]

Companion Post:

On January 20, 2011 FEMA Orders Survival Food for 7 Million People in New Madrid Zone



FEMA Chief Fugate on Challenges of Widespread Storm Recovery Needs

SUMMARY

The Army Corps of Engineers is considering whether to blow up more levees along the Mississippi River after destroying a Missouri levee to save an Illinois town. Judy Woodruff talks with Federal Emergency Management Agency Chief Craig Fugate about the government's widespread effort to help victims of flooding and tornadoes.

[vector7]

Waters still rising around evacuated Illinois town

By Miriam Moynihan
Reuters
updated 5/1/2011 11:46:33 PM ET 2011-05-02T03:46:33

ST. LOUIS — Missouri's attorney general asked the Supreme Court on Sunday to intervene and block a proposed federal plan to protect the southern Illinois town of Cairo by blowing up a levee on the Mississippi River.

State Attorney General Chris Koster asked the nation's highest court for a temporary injunction to prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from intentionally breaching the Birds Point levee, a move that would flood 130,000 acres of farmland and destroy the homes of an estimated 200 people in Missouri.

Visiting the soggy levee on Sunday, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon told reporters: "We are here for the long run, and stand ready to make sure that people of this region of our state are safe. I just ask each one to stay calm and stay focused on the weather that's here and the weather that's coming."
By blowing up the levee, the Corps hopes to increase the Mississippi River's ability to accommodate the rising waters of the Ohio River, relieving Cairo and other towns.

But a final decision seemed at least another day away. The Corps said late Sunday that a decision had not yet been made whether to go through the extraordinary move and that it would take at least 20 hours to actually insert the explosives into the levee's walls.

Cairo, a historic town of 2,800 people located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, was largely empty after a mandatory evacuation as the Ohio, swollen by overnight rains, continued to rise to dangerously high record levels.

Both rivers have been rising as a result of days of rain and the melt and runoff of heavy winter snowstorms.

Heavy rains fell again on Sunday and were expected to continue through Tuesday morning, when National Weather Service forecasts that the Ohio, the largest tributary of the Mississippi River, could crest at 60.5 feet at Cairo, a full foot above the 1937 record.

Cairo's mayor, Judson Childs, ordered the mandatory evacuation as of midnight Saturday after meeting with the Corps, the top flood-fighting agency.

"There is no count yet on the number of people evacuated, but it's just about a ghost town," Childs told Reuters.

But he said some residents were opting to stay behind.

"There are some people who will stay, like me, who are going to go down with the ship, so to speak," he said.

The Corps has dispatched barges to the Birds Point levee, carrying a slurry mix that could be used to blow up the levee.

"Right now, there's no news or decision on what the Corps will do regarding the levee," Childs said. "Everything can change minute to minute and hour to hour."

A federal appeals court said on Saturday the Corps had the right to breach the levee, as permitted by a 1928 law.

The Corps said it would detonate explosives in the levee if the river at Cairo reached 61 feet and was rising. But it could potentially blow up the levee even if the river does not reach 61 feet if there is too much stress on the system.

The state of Missouri originally sued to stop the Corps plan, arguing that it would do extensive damage.

Illinois and Kentucky took the other side, saying towns in their states could be flooded if the levee were not blown up.

A lower court ruled against Missouri on Friday, and the state petitioned to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which denied Missouri the legal relief it sought on Saturday.

[vector7]

Levee breach lowers river, but record flooding still forecast

By the CNN Wire Staff
May 3, 2011 10:06 p.m. EDT(CNN) -- The intentional breach of a levee on the Mississippi River is sending 396,000 cubic feet per second of water onto 200 square miles of fertile Missouri farmland. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the operation is helping to ease unprecedented flood pressure on other areas.

While the plan appeared to be working -- the level of the Ohio River fell where it joins the Mississippi -- record crests and relentless pressure from millions of gallons of water still threatened communities throughout the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, could see water levels rise 4 feet by Sunday. Residents in Caruthersville, Missouri, were told sandbags may not be enough to control the water.

Corina Jolley, of Sikeston, Missouri, told CNN she grew up in Dorena, Missouri, which she said was being inundated by the breach on the Mississippi River.


Army Corps blasts levee to save town

A tombstone rests above the remains of her father and uncle, but "I'm sure we'll never see it again," said Jolley, who claims residents of the rich farmland will be out of luck, as opposed to those in Cairo, Illinois, for whom the risk has been lessened by the breaches.

"Whoever thought it would be this bad?" she said.

The Corps reported river levels had fallen more than a foot since engineers detonated explosives late Monday night at Birds Point, Missouri, briefly illuminating the night sky like lightning and sending water coursing across a floodway that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon described as "literally the most productive part of our continent."

The Ohio River level had dropped about 1.7 feet at Cairo since Monday afternoon, before the blast, but that is expected to level off Wednesday and hover close to 60 feet the rest of the week. Other sections showed modest decreases or no changes Tuesday. Paducah, Kentucky, on the Ohio River, is expected to see levels go from 54.7 feet Tuesday night to 55.3 on Sunday.

A second levee blast was conducted Tuesday afternoon at New Madrid, Missouri, and a third is planned Wednesday near Hickman, Kentucky. The second and third blasts, downstream of Birds Point, will allow floodwater to return to the Mississippi River.

After the first blast late Monday, the National Weather Service lowered its crest projection for the Ohio River at Smithland, Kentucky -- upriver from the levee breach -- to 55 feet from the previous 58-foot prediction. But even that forecast is more than 3 1/2 feet higher than the record set at that location in 1997, according to weather service records. Flood stage there is 40 feet.

The town of Cairo remained under a mandatory evacuation despite the intentional breach, while six other communities were under voluntary evacuation notices, said Patti Thompson, spokeswoman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

"We're definitely not out of the woods yet," she said. "The levees are all very saturated right now and they're going to continue to have a lot of pressure on them for several days."

Commercial shipping was affected by the levee blasting and subsequent debris removal.

The segment at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, near Cairo, opened late Tuesday afternoon, said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Claudia Gelzer. Two other Mississippi River sections along the Missouri-Kentucky border will reopen Wednesday or later, she said.

Gelzer did not know how many vessels were affected, but said companies had prepared for the closings.

The National Weather Service continues to predict record or near-record flooding in parts of southern Illinois, southwest Indiana, western Kentucky and Tennessee, southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas and, later, parts of Mississippi and Louisiana.

Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, commander of the Corps' Mississippi River Valley Division, made the decision to order the breach. He warned that without punching a hole in the levee, massive flooding would threaten to inundate communities throughout the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys.

"There's a tremendous amount of pressure on the system," he told reporters Tuesday evening. "The project operated as designed."

It was a controversial decision. Missouri officials took the Corps to court over the plan, questioning the agency's authority to intentionally breach the levee. The state argued the floodwater would deposit silt on the 130,000-some acres, and years, along with millions of dollars, would be required to fix the damage.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case on Sunday, clearing the way for Walsh's decision Monday to blow the levee.
Some Missouri residents were angered, arguing the decision would destroy their communities and provide questionable benefit. But others felt the decision was for the best.

"Yeah, we lost 135,000 acres of farm land here in Missouri," said Sikeston, Missouri, resident Patricia Mobely, who recently fled the drought and firestorms of Texas for what she thought would be a more peaceful life in the Midwest. "But how much more would we have lost if we hadn't done it?"

The river diversion and other flooding has had an impact on pets and livestock.

Thirty-one animals rescued from flood waters in southeastern Missouri are heading to St. Louis, including 24 domestic rabbits found abandoned inside a cotton gin trailer, according to CNN affiliate KSDK.

Walsh said the fate of Cairo was just one of many factors in his decision, saying he hoped the move would alleviate problems throughout the Mississippi River system. Water levels and flooding have hit record highs in many spots, putting severe strains on systems meant to prevent uncontrolled floods and the resulting loss of life and property.

He called the decision to inundate the farmland and about 100 homes "heart-wrenching."

"I've been involved with flooding for 10 years and it takes a long time to recover from something like this," he said.

The governors of Illinois and Missouri said authorities in both states were prepared for the blasts and subsequent flooding, according to prepared statements.

"I urge Missourians to continue to cooperate fully with state, county and local law enforcement, as they have at every stage of this process," Nixon said. "Together, we will ensure that Missouri families stay safe in the coming days. And together, we will recover and rebuild."

A statement released by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's office called the decision to breach the levee "an important step to ensure public safety as we respond to this crisis."

Even as the river was falling, Walsh did not rule out similar moves elsewhere along the Mississippi and its tributaries, saying the levee system is under unprecedented pressure and warning water levels could rise again.
"This doesn't end this historic flood," he said.

Evacuation notices have been posted in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, where rising tributaries have threatened dozens of communities.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear visited three counties to assess response efforts. Nearly 4,000 residents in the cities of Smithland, Hickman and Ledbetter have been evacuated, according to a statement from his office.

Counties in central and northeast Arkansas were affected, including areas along the Black and White rivers, said spokesman Tommy Jackson of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

The mayor of Dyersburg, Tennessee, urged residents of parts of his community to evacuate ahead of significant flooding there forecast for Wednesday night, and residents and officials in Paducah, Kentucky, were closely watching a levee holding back the Ohio River that has showed signs of failing.

"We are in uncharted water," Paducah Mayor Bill Paxton said.

[vector7]

All Eyes on the Mississippi River

Updated: Thursday, 28 Apr 2011, 6:39 PM CDT
Published : Thursday, 28 Apr 2011, 4:29 PM CDT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Mississippi River continues to rise, so much so that its tributaries are starting to flow backwards. At Tom Lee Park, preps for Memphis in May continue knowing that the worst is still yet to come.

---

In Brief:

- The Mississippi River is rising causing her tributaries to flow backwards.
- The river rose 2 feet after the recent batch of storms.
- It is expected to crest at 45 feet on May 10th, the same day BBQ fest contestants set up their tents.

---

All Eyes on the Mississippi River: MyFoxMEMPHIS.com

It's a site not often seen; the Wolf River and Nonconnah Creek are flowing backwards. The swelling river cannot take on much more water.

Gene Rench with the National Weather Service said all eyes are on the Mississippi. The tributaries flowing backwards are a big problem for the adjacent communities.

"Right now the Mississippi river is in the process of going through what we call an epic flood, meaning it's more than historic, it's more than a 100 year flood, it's more like a 500 year flood," he said. "We could flood many homes, businesses, close down factories, people could drown."

The river is more than two feet past flood stage; it rose two feet in the 24 hours following the storms. It's expected to crest at 45 feet around May 10th, right when Barbecue Festival teams are setting up their tents.

Memphis in May's Diane Hampton said they can deal with the forecasted 45 foot river. "At that point Tom Lee Park is not underwater; it's very close, but it's not flooded."

Hampton said they are preparing for the worst and looking at alternate locations for the Championship Cooking Contest, but remain confident it will stay downtown.

As for Music Fest, the only change is the city is pulling up the direct electricity and everything will run on generators.

"The river is not going to stop anything this weekend, other than the flood of people that's going to be down here," Hampton said.

Admittedly, she said the river has a mind of its own.

The Army Corps of Engineers is trying to out smart it by shutting down the Tennessee River and closing all other tributaries and dams that feed into the Mississippi.

According to Rench, "we're hoping and praying that the plans and actions that the Corp has taken, this strategy is going to work."

As the Mississippi River rises to near-record levels, Tunica's nine casinos will shut down indefinitely, displacing about 10,000 workers and costing millions in lost dollars. The closure orders were issued Wednesday to ensure the safety of visitors and workers.

All visitors must be off the property by 2 p.m. on the designated day. This anticipated closing schedule is based on current forecasts and is subject to change based on weather conditions.

[vector7]

Levee detonation lowers river, triggers new lawsuit



AP – An electronic bill board warns drivers the reason Mississippi Highway 465 is closed to Eagle Lake is …


By Mary Wisniewski Mary Wisniewski – Tue May 3, 6:40 pm ET
CHARLESTON, Missouri (Reuters) – The effort to protect river towns in Illinois and Kentucky from rising floodwaters by blowing open a levee and inundating more than 100,000 acres of Missouri farmland appeared to be slowly working on Tuesday.

The controversy surrounding the extraordinary demolition continued, with farmers affected by it filing suit.

Dick Durbin, a Democratic Senator from Illinois, also cautioned that the endangered river towns, including Cairo at the southern-most tip of Illinois, were "not out of the woods yet."

The National Weather Service said the river gauge at Cairo, Illinois, where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers meet, showed water levels had dropped more than a foot-and-a-half since 10 p.m. last night, when the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers blasted a hole in a protective embankment downriver from the historic town.

"The plan performed as expected," Jim Pogue, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman, said in a telephone interview.

By 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday, the gauge at Cairo had dropped to 60.08 feet and was expected to continue dropping through the weekend.

The Cairo gauge topped out at 61.72 feet, its highest level since 1937, on Monday night before the Corps detonated the levee to allow the Mississippi River to cope with the rising waters of the Ohio River.

Both rivers have been rising as a result of days of rain and the melt and runoff of heavy winter snowstorms.

Carlin Bennett, a commissioner in the rural Missouri county that is bearing the brunt of the flooding, said it was a little early to make the call, but was afraid the operation would not drop the river the three to four feet the government wants.

"It's looking like all of our worst fears here," said Bennett, who has 80 acres himself that are being flooded. "Our land got flooded and they are not getting the flooding relief they expected."

NO CHOICE
Missouri farmers who returned Tuesday to survey the land they work found it beneath 8 to 10 feet of brown water.

Many, like Kevin Nally, 40, who farms 250 acres here, seemed resigned to the necessity of the extraordinary move, which continues to generate lawsuits against the Corp.

"They didn't have a choice," he said. "It was coming over the levee anyway."

Nally had already planted 80 acres of wheat, which was washed away when the waters poured in last night.

His losses will be covered by insurance. But he said he was worried about the long-term damage that might result if too much sand is left behind.

Legal efforts by the state of Missouri to stop the Corps from blasting the levee at Birds Point-New Madrid failed.

But on Tuesday attorneys filed a new private class-action complaint in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on behalf of farmers whose land was flooded.

"In the process of breaching the levee, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also destroyed or is in the process of destroying 90 households and more than 100,000 acres of the country's richest farmland," said J. Michael Ponder, the attorney from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, who filed the suit.

"What these property owners and farmers are seeking is just compensation for the land and livelihood they have lost -- possibly forever or for decades."

The government blew a two mile hole in a 56-mile levee that holds back the Mississippi to relieve pressure and expects later on Tuesday to blow two smaller holes in the same levee downstream to allow the water to flow back into the river.

The effort was designed to save a number of towns along the Ohio River, first among them Cairo. Located at the southern tip of Illinois between two states, Missouri and Kentucky, that still permitted slavery prior to abolition in the 19th century, Cairo was an important destination for runaway slaves during the Civil War.

Its population of around 3,000 is more than 60 percent African-American and a third of its residents have incomes below the poverty level.

Durbin said that while the levee breach had lowered water levels, the Corps was continuing to monitor "dangerous sand boils and weakened levees."

[vector7]

http://water.weather.gov/ahps/

[vector7]

National Guard Assisting with Safety Patrols

By Marshall County Emergency Management

BENTON, KY - The Kentucky National Guard has arrived in Marshall County to assist the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department with safety and security patrols in flood prone areas of the county. Areas such as Calvert City, Possum Trot, Gilbertsville, Elva and Oak Level have suffered flooding with some voluntary citizen evacuations. With this in mind, necessary resources are being utilized to insure evacuated areas remain secure for those who are unable to look after their property. Sandbags are available at 160 Homer Lucas Lane, across from Mike Miller Park on Highway 68. Also, the Red Cross is on standby if a shelter is needed in the county. If anyone needs assistance in moving items from their residence beyond closed roads or barricades, they must call the county EOC at 527-6503 or the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department at 527-3112. Those who need assistance evacuating their homes may also call the Marshall County EOC. If you are prompted to leave a message, please leave your name, 911 designated address and telephone number along with your request. An official will get back with you immediately. There are currently no mandatory evacuations in Marshall County, however, citizens are being asked to be proactive and voluntary evacuate areas where the water is expected to rise. Links to flood stages may be found at www.mcphd.org. It is vital to heed safety precautions during coming days. Never allow children to play in floodwaters. Debris will be present, and floodwaters often contain a swift current. Never drive where water is over roads. Citations will be issued throughout the County for those driving around barricades as well as for those moving signs and barricades. Road closure information, water disinfection, flood readiness and other safety information may be accessed at www.mcphd.org.

[Malsua]

Geezus, who trained dipshit #3 in that picture. I wouldn't want to walk around to his right. What a dumb ass.

[Toad]

Looks like he's gettin ready to club someone with it.

[zenbudda]

Geezus, who trained dipshit #3 in that picture. I wouldn't want to walk around to his right. What a dumb ass.

Lol while I'm no expert at handling firearms, I realized that while I was scrolling down. the guy front and center is carrying it correctly, right?

[Malsua]

Lol while I'm no expert at handling firearms, I realized that while I was scrolling down. the guy front and center is carrying it correctly, right?

Pretty much. He's actually got the sling up a bit high but still within tolerance.

The center of the rifle should be centered on your body but it does have a fixed stock on it, so it may need to ride to the left a bit more than it should.

The guy in the back is just a complete bozo.

[Malsua]

These guys are doing it right.

[vector7]

Mississippi floods force evacuations near Memphis


Related News

• U.S. to blow third hole in levee as floods worsenWed, May 4 2011
• U.S. plans to blow third hole in Missouri leveeWed, May 4 2011
• Levee detonation lowers river, triggers new lawsuitTue, May 3 2011
• U.S. blows up flood levee on Mississippi RiverTue, May 3 2011

An aerial photograph shows flooding at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tennessee, in this photograph taken May 2 and released May 3, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Mark Wilson/U.S. Navy/Handout

By John Branston

MEMPHIS, Tenn | Fri May 6, 2011 4:41am EDT

MEMPHIS, Tenn (Reuters) - The rising Mississippi river lapped over downtown Memphis streets on Thursday as a massive wall of water threatened to unleash near record flooding all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Water lapped over Riverside Drive and onto Beale Street in Memphis, and threatened some homes on Mud Island, a community of about 5,000 residents with a river theme park. The island connects to downtown Memphis by a bridge and causeway.

Emergency officials in Millington near Memphis were "going door-to-door, asking people to leave," according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

Large amounts of rain and melt from the winter snow has caused a chain reaction of flooding from Canada and the Dakotas through Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee. It is expected to soon hit Mississippi and Louisiana at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

The flood threat harkens back to memories from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in which Mississippi beachfront towns were engulfed and most of New Orleans went under water after its levee system failed.

"The flood is rolling down, it is breaking records as it moves down and it is one of those wait-and-see type of things as to how massive it is going to be when it's all said and done," said Charles Camillo, historian for the Mississippi River Commission and the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project.

In Arkansas, westbound traffic on a section of one of the nation's major trucking arteries, Interstate 40, was closed for a second day due to flooding.
The White River was expected to crest at its highest ever level of 40 feet at Des Arc, Arkansas on Thursday night, breaking a 1949 record.

A levee overflowed near the White River, forcing a mandatory evacuation of the town of Cotton Plant, the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management said.

Officials at the Shelby County Office of Preparedness, that includes Memphis, predicted that the flood could affect 2,832 properties if it crests at 48 feet this coming weekend.

A crest of 48 feet would be the river's highest level since 1937, according to the National Weather Service. The service currently puts the river level at Memphis at 45.21 feet, with an expected rise to 47.6 feet by Monday morning.

The flooding is also affecting towns not directly on the Mississippi. Residents in south Dyersburg, Tenn., about 20 miles from the Mississippi, have been asked to evacuate because of the projected crest of the North Fork of the Forked Deer River, which runs into the big river.

North of Memphis upstream, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blew up a third section of a Missouri levee Thursday afternoon to let flood waters back into the Mississippi.

The Corps blew up a two-mile section of the Birds Point levee Monday night to help ease flooding in Illinois and Kentucky. The levee destruction resulted in the flooding of 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland. The Corps then blew up two smaller sections of the levee Tuesday and Thursday to let water back in the river.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday declared parts of Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee as disaster areas due to flooding. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon Thursday requested that Obama make a major disaster declaration for the state as a result of high winds, tornadoes and flooding since April 19.

The levee system in Mississippi is holding for now but it has never been tested like this before, officials said.

"Compared to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 this flood is going to be a lot nastier," said Marty Pope, senior hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Jackson, Miss.

The river is predicted to crest at 64.5 feet on May 17 in the Vicksburg, Miss. area. Vicksburg has a flood stage of 48 feet, which means the river will crest more than 16 feet above normal, according to flood experts at the National Weather Service.

The flood waters will reach more than a foot above the Yazoo Backwater Levee near Yazoo City, Miss. and this will flood thousands of acres of farmland, said Pope.

There were major floods on the Mississippi in 1927, 1937, 1973, 1993 and 2008. The 1927 flood caused up to 1,000 deaths and left 600,000 homeless. Floodways were adopted as a response.

Camillo said it was too early to estimate expected damage from the 2011 flooding. He noted that much has changed since the 1927 flood, including the structure of the levees and the addition of dozens of reservoirs throughout the Mississippi River basin and floodways.

The Mississippi has four floodways: Birds Point and three spillways in Louisiana.

[AGEUSAF]

http://water.weather.gov/ahps/

I live on this site for the Upper during late winter thru spring....Corps has internal predictions which seems to be more accurate/ farther out than NOAA.

[Ryan Ruck]

Geezus, who trained dipshit #3 in that picture. I wouldn't want to walk around to his right. What a dumb ass.

Look at their camo... They're airmen! Have pitty on them!

[catfish]

If you a closer look you will see that their weapons aren't even loaded.

[Malsua]

If you a closer look you will see that their weapons aren't even loaded.

No magazines but the bolts aren't open so they could have put their Barney Fife round in there.

[vector7]

Companion Threads:

• Obama Administration Imposes Seven-year Drilling Moratorium
• White House actions pushing Saudi Arabia toward China and Russia

Oil refineries at risk near swollen Mississippi River

11 May 2011 14:40
Source: reuters // Reuters

May 11 (Reuters) - Heavy flooding in the U.S. Midwest shut Ohio River terminals, limited barge movements and threatened to disrupt refinery operations along the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday.

There are 10 refineries, including the second largest U.S. refinery, located along the Mississippi River, that can process 2,414,700 barrels per day of oil, or 13.7 percent of the country's refining capacity.



Scores of U.S. heartland rivers from the Dakotas to Ohio have flooded following a snowy winter and heavy spring rains, feeding near-record crests on the lower Mississippi River.

Valero Energy Corp's 180,000 bpd refinery in Memphis, Tennessee, continued operating on Wednesday in the center of the worst flooding where high waters forced evacuations in residential areas. The river crested near 48 feet (14.6 meters) on Tuesday at Memphis.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers was planning to open the Morganza spillway by early next week, which will send flood waters from the Mississippi to the Atchafalaya River, likely disrupting operations at Alon USA Energy's 80,000 bpd Krotz Springs, Louisiana, refinery.

REFINERIES AT RISK FROM FLOODS (in bpd)


* Alon USA Energy Krotz Springs, Louisiana: 80,000


* Chalmette Refining Chalmette, Louisiana: 192,500


*ConocoPhillips Belle Chasse, Louisiana: 247,000


*Exxon Mobil Corp Baton Rouge, Louisiana: 504,500
(Second-largest U.S. refinery)


*Marathon Oil Corp Garyville, Louisiana: 436,000


*Motiva Enterprises Convent, Louisiana: 235,000


*Motiva Enterprises Norco, Louisiana: 234,700


*Murphy Oil Corp Meraux, Louisiana: 120,000


*Valero Energy Corp Memphis, Tennessee: 180,000


*Valero Energy Corp St. Charles Louisiana: 185,000


TERMINALS SHUT:


Nearly 20 percent of barge terminals the U.S. Coast Guard monitors on the Ohio River remained closed on Tuesday. The Smithland Lock and Dam at mile marker 918.5 on the river remains closed, obstructing barge traffic both up and downstream. [ID:nN09291512]


SHIP TRAFFIC:

The tanker Zaliv Baikal turned back from going to a storage terminal at the port of Baton Rouge because its captain didn't think the vessel had enough clearance beneath the I-10 Bridge over the Mississippi at Baton Rouge.


BARGE TRAFFIC:


Barge traffic is moving along the Mississippi River with some restrictions and no closures. Barges were running near Baton Rouge, but facing difficult river conditions.

Mississippi River restrictions include length of barge (no greater than 600 feet), energy requirement (greater than 250 horsepower), speed (3 miles/hour) and prior notification requests before navigation starts. To that end, barge traffic is open in places like St Louis and Memphis with restrictions. [ID:nWEN2978] (Reporting by Erwin Seba, Kristen Hays, Selam Gebrekidan, Janet McGurty, Bruce Nichols; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)