The top NASA satellite image of the Morganza Spillway is three days old. No new satellite images are released to show the current conditions of the flooding. Four floodgates are now open and more than 100,000 cubic feet of water per second is being released. Fifteen miles of the Mississippi River at Natchez is closed costing the US economy $300 million each day. The cost to the economy and the loss of agricultural products will impact our country now and through Fall.
On May 14, 2011, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway in an attempt to ease flooding along the Mississippi River in Louisiana. The decision was made to protect the heavily populated areas and infrastructure around the ports of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The decision is not without cost, however, to the thousands of people who are likely to lose homes and farms within the flood plain downstream.
On May 15, the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this natural-color image (top) of the Morganza Floodway.The image was acquired at 11:20 a.m. Central Daylight Time, one day after the spillway was partially opened. The lower photo was taken on May 14 by the Army Corps, several hours after water began streaming onto the floodway.
The picture below is Vicksburg which is currently 5 inches higher than the record set in 1927. The river is expected to crest at 57-1/2 feet on Thursday.
David DeGerolamo
