NEW ORLEANS - Members of the U. S. Corps of Engineers started closing bays along the Bonnet Carre Spillway Monday as water levels in the Mississippi River began to slowly return to normal.

The Corps opened 210 bays of the Spillway on Jan. 10 to divert water from the flooding Mississippi into Lake Pontchartrain.

The Corps said they will close 10 bays at the Spillway Monday, and it will take seven to ten days to close the remaining 200.

The Bonnet Carre has been opened 10 times, most recently during the record floods of 2011. All public access areas within the spillway were closed in response to the opening.