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Morganza Spillway opening delayed indefinitely

4 years 9 months 3 weeks ago Thursday, June 06 2019 Jun 6, 2019 June 06, 2019 12:58 PM June 06, 2019 in News
Source: WBRZ

UPDATE: The Morganza Spillway opening has been pushed back indefinitely, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Thursday.

Officials say they are still monitoring the river at this time.

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MORGANZA - Flooded and swollen rivers upstream in places like Arkansas have not pushed water into the Mississippi River as quick as river forecasters first thought, delaying the opening of the Morganza Spillway yet again.

The Army Corps of Engineers has now scheduled the first opening to be June 9, a week later than planned. The entire flood structure could be spilling excess water from the Mississippi into the spillway sometime after.

Experts said they originally predicted the river to be dangerously close to overtopping the 1950s-era flood gates, forcing it to open starting June 2. But, forecast models changed, showing dangerous heights of the river days later, allowing engineers more time to open the spillway.

Last week, the Army Corps said it anticipated opening the spillway on June 6. On Monday, the date was pushed back again to June 9.

The opening in 2019 will be the third time in history that the Morganza structure has been operated to control a rising Mississippi River. 

Click here for the full flood inundation map.

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