Floodgates Opened In New Orleans
The rising Mississippi River has prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to begin opening floodgates at a spillway upriver from New Orleans.
Shortly after 8 a.m. CDT, workers pulled restraining devices off the first of 28 gates at the the Bonnet Carre spillway that will be opened. The structure has 350 gates and the corps has said it will monitor Mississippi River levels before deciding whether more will be opened.
Fresh water from the river will be diverted into Lake Pontchartrain and from there into the Gulf of Mexico.
The corps also has asked the Mississippi River Commission for permission to open the Morganza spillway north of Baton Rouge.
Later on Monday, state officials planned to begin moving some prisoners from the Angola state penitentiary north of Baton Rouge, as waters rise.
