Flood waters

[oldbikers]

Just wanted to see how unwind2 and others are doing with all the flooding in and around Memphis, I am 50 miles South of Memphis but also 45 miles East of the Mississippi river so I don't have to worry but the folks around the river and it's tributaries are in big trouble it is supposed to crest on the 11th at 48' which is the highest it has been since the great flood of 1937.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Wow, that is terrible news Jim. Hope everyone will be safe.

[MarkG]

Sure hope the weather and the flooding clears up in the next couple of weeks. Trying to get to the national from Arizona could be somewhat difficult if things don't settle down. ::)

[Cajunrider]

The Army Corps of Engineers will begin opening the Bonnet Carre Spillway Monday. This dumps MS river water directly into Lake Ponchartrain to ease the strain on the levees in the New Orleans area. With the Bonnet Carre opened releasing 250,000 cu ft/s of river water, the crest will still be at 19.5 ft which is 2.5 ft above flood stage. The tops of the levees range from 20 to 24 feet. This will have no effect on here as I am 20 miles West of the river. They will most likely begin opening the Morganza Floodway next week. Opening the Morganza, which is located north of Baton Rouge protects BR from flooding by releasing over 250,000 cu ft/s of MS river water into the Atchafalaya River. I am 26 miles East of the Atchafalaya. The two spillways were constructed and opened a few years following the great flood of 1927. The Morganza has only been opened once since its construction in the 1930's. The only opening was in 1973. That year, the old river control structure nearly washed out and allowed the Mississippi River to change course into the Atchafalaya. The monumental flooding we will experience this spring will surpass levels reached in 1973 and reach or surpass those of 1927. We should be OK here at home but the water level will get high enough to activate our flood plan at my workplace and shutdown the plant until the waters begin receding. With our new flood protection the plant and buildings should stay dry.

[Idaho]

Our problem is that we love rivers and want to be next to them. All good on sunny late summer days but when spring snowmelt and rain causes them to do what they do we learn hard lessons. We really should not be building anything in a historic floodplain that can't be washed away. Levee's, canals, floodgates are all our attempts to control water and we only make things worse in many cases. Build a high wall to contain a river and it will run deep and fast inside that wall until it breaks loose.

I feel for the folks who live on rivers but the reality is that rivers need those flood plains to stretch out onto during high water events. Good luck to you all.

[oldbikers]

Originally Posted by markg

Sure hope the weather and the flooding clears up in the next couple of weeks. Trying to get to the national from Arizona could be somewhat difficult if things don't settle down. ::)

There won't be any problem getting through here for the National rally every thing should be high and dry by then.

They had to shut down the South bound leg of I40 yesterday that is a major truck route between Memphis and Little Rock there was traffic back up for many miles.

[Loafer]

Here in Vermont we are experienceing flooding and mud slides, closing many roads that are washed out or 2-3 feet under water.
I've seen footage of other states and I wish them all well as they definately have it far worse then we do.