The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has opened the first bay of Louisiana's Morganza spillway.

Areas Will Be Flooded to Protect Louisiana Cities
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
A spillway north of Baton Rouge will be opened for only the second time in its history....
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/us/14flo...

UPDATE FROM WDSU CHANNEL 6 NEWS-NEW ORLEANS

Officials will open the flood gates of the Morganza Spillway at one sparsely populated part of Louisiana to protect the bigger cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans to the South.

The cresting Mississippi has already caused flooding in other states. The latest effort in Louisiana will flood farmland and homes. About 25,000 people and 11,000 structures could be in harms way, the Associated Press reported.

The U.S. federal government begain creating the system for handling rising waters after a flood, said Maj. General Michael Walsh of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. "These are water control programs we've been putting together for decades."

The bays of the spill way will be used at only 25 percent of their capacity during this stretch. About 150,000 cubic feet of water will flow through.

Latest information on Mississippi River flooding
http://landrieu.senate.gov/mediacenter/flo...