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posted by Rich Miller
Monday, May 2, 11 @ 5:04 pm
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Fire in the hole! Here’s hoping.
Our Missouri neighbors showed me something this week.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 2, 11 @ 5:24 pm
Walsh said this is one of four floodways, do we know where the others are? I assume this one (Birds Point) was chosen because of the location below the Ohio, and the others may be intended if the problem worsens down river.
But just in case any state attorneys general need to prepare, it might be helpful to know which of the 3 remaining floodways is most likely to be needed if the rain doesn’t stop.
Btw, I really appreciate the professionalism exhibited by the Corps so far. It sure sounds like they’re the pros from Dover in this mess of a situation. Competence always pleases me.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, May 2, 11 @ 6:20 pm
–It sure sounds like they’re the pros from Dover in this mess of a situation.–
M*A*S*H, the Altman movie or the book? Those guys certainly weren’t regular Army. I doubt if they’re looking for ham and eggs or a round of golf before they blow the levee, lol.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 2, 11 @ 6:30 pm
Blowing that thing at night sounds like a great idea, should make video of water rushing into the break almost impossible.
Comment by McLean Farmboy Monday, May 2, 11 @ 6:51 pm
The movie Word, and ham and eggs are fine as long as they lay off the hooch before detonation, lol.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, May 2, 11 @ 6:52 pm
A request, Zepplin. When the levee breaks.
Comment by sad Monday, May 2, 11 @ 7:16 pm
McLean, you are right about that. Things are very busy here, more evacuations, but video of rushing water won’t help anyone.
Comment by Way Way Down Here Monday, May 2, 11 @ 7:39 pm
I’m with sad. I play +When the Levee Breaks+ in my Environmental Geology class when we cover flooding.
My personal preference would be to buy up much of the floodplain along the Mississippi & Ohio Rivers and return it to wetland/floodplain. Letting people live behind levees encourages a false sense of security and results in the kind of pain we are seeing now. Completely unnecessary. Towns could be leveed off, but the stages would be much lower if the water were allowed to spread out.
The E.St.Louis metro area is really under this kind of shadow right now. It’s only a matter of time…
Comment by Illinois Geologist Monday, May 2, 11 @ 7:52 pm
IG, is there any chance that by blowing the levee that the river decides to take on a mind of it’s own and carves out a new course? Kind of like when our first state Capitol ended up in MO?
Comment by Been There Monday, May 2, 11 @ 8:15 pm
What to do with 3 million cubic feet of water per second?
Otherwise known by The Corp of Engineers as “project design flood”.
http://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/mrc/pdf/MRT%20info%20paper.pdf
The other three floodways are in Louisiana.
Comment by HappyToaster Monday, May 2, 11 @ 8:22 pm
record flooding predicted for Vicksburg to Nachez in two weeks and that is if there is no rain or normal rain in next two weeks.
http://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=LA20110502225800FloodWarning20110504043500LA.JANFLSJAN.cc61ce7a2ec2b7d4b28be45b759ca083
Comment by mushroom in the dark Monday, May 2, 11 @ 9:01 pm
www.kfvs12.com has a reporter on site. They are waiting for the 5 minute warning siren now.
Comment by Anon Monday, May 2, 11 @ 9:20 pm
==IG, is there any chance that by blowing the levee that the river decides to take on a mind of it’s own and carves out a new course? ==
Perhaps, but not likely. When Kaskaskia Island was cut off, the river took a much shorter course, resulting in a steeper gradient and more erosive power. This floodway parallels the river and is not much shorter, so the gradient will be about the same. Also, cutoffs often take several floods to become a new channel and the Corps rarely, if ever, allows such things to happen.
It may carve a hole at the break and spread sediment down the floodway. That’s the biggest concern to the farmers. When this has happened at other levee breaks, the sand left behind is then dug up and used to fill in the cavity. If the cavity is too big, the reconstructed levee is built around it. There are a couple of those upstream along the Mississippi in Alexander County (one is just south of Fayville and the other is west of Olive Branch.
Comment by Illinois Geologist Monday, May 2, 11 @ 9:33 pm
The levee has been blown!
Comment by Illinois Geologist Monday, May 2, 11 @ 10:04 pm
video of blast
http://www.kfvs12.com/story/14557528/corps-of-engineers-to-breach-levee
Comment by mushroom in the dark Monday, May 2, 11 @ 10:15 pm
using the language of the ACorps, it sounds like Cartman is involved…..Helicorder! thanks for all the info posts. Tribune is useless.
Comment by amalia Monday, May 2, 11 @ 10:29 pm
––You can bet the White House is very much involved on this decision. The simple politics being: do the feds take an unprecedented action to help a very blue state (that easily votes for the President in ‘12)at the expense of a swing state?
I think that levee will still be standing by election time. –
What The, how are those cynical Blue State/Swing State White House calculations looking now? Hope you didn’t bet the house/farm.
Maybe, just maybe, this president is willing to trust sincere, public-servant experts on tough, risky decisions for the greater good, and then back them up to the hilt, however the chips may fall.
I’ll try to think of another recent example….
Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 2, 11 @ 10:57 pm
LOL, word. People shouldn’t make predictions so close to an actual event. Especially stupid ones like that.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 2, 11 @ 11:09 pm
Especially when the Corps had a published plan of action, which they were following almost to the letter…
==With a project design flood rate of rise, approximately 2 feet per day, initial preparation of floodway is required when the stage at the Cairo, IL, gage is approximately 59 feet; completion of preparation of the Inflow Crevasse at 60 feet; and operation of the floodway begins upon order of the President, MRC.==
Nothing an engineer likes more than a design plan supported by lots of numbers. I was a bit surprised they waited until the water was over 61 ft, but it may have been the storms passing through.
Comment by Illinois Geologist Tuesday, May 3, 11 @ 12:04 am
As of 11 pm, the river at Cairo had dropped 1 ft.
If the river drops as quickly as forecast, they will need to watch for slumping on the river side of the levees. The high water supports the outside of the levee as it saturates it. A rapid drop in the water level can remove that support.
Comment by Illinois Geologist Tuesday, May 3, 11 @ 12:09 am
On the issue of the President favoring swing states: To be fair, did you see his NCAA brackets?
Comment by soccermom Tuesday, May 3, 11 @ 7:49 am
Good flood coverage here, thanks
Comment by foster brooks Tuesday, May 3, 11 @ 8:20 am