Waters spread across floodway above Morgan City

Waters spread across floodway above Morgan City

Two weeks after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the flood control structure known as the Morganza Spillway, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this false-color image of the…

Old River and the Mississippi River control

Old River and the Mississippi River control

The Mississippi River is highly “engineered,” as major rivers go. The battle between human civilization and the river is perhaps best exemplified by the Old River Control structures in central Louisiana. Completed in the 1960s, the system of levees, locks,

Morganza Floodway after five days of flow

Morganza Floodway after five days of flow

Five days after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a flood control structure, or spillway, onto the Morganza Floodway, water had spread 15–20 miles (24–32 kilometers) southward across the Louisiana landscape. As of May 18, 2011, a total of 17 bays…

Historic Mississippi flood gathering toward Delta

Historic Mississippi flood gathering toward Delta

Mississippi river flooding reaching historic levelsThe worst floodings since the Great Depression, the bulging, swollen Mississippi River is overflowing in record proportions, blanketing thousands of square miles across Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, negatively