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  1. #1
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    Opening the morganza spillway again

    When they opened it a couple years ago. They told my buddy who has a camp on graveyard island in belle river he would get flooded, it never got over the banks, not even in the yard. Right now the road on graveyard island is shin deep, this ain’t gonna be good

  2. Banned
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    Jan 2011
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    #2
    No it's not going to be good.

  3. Member cbr900racer22's Avatar
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    Jul 2014
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    City of Central, LA.
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    #3
    They are supposed to sink the barge at Bayou Chene too. That is what prevents the backup from the Atchafalaya into that area.
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  4. Member
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    #4
    Quote Originally Posted by cbr900racer22 View Post
    They are supposed to sink the barge at Bayou Chene too. That is what prevents the backup from the Atchafalaya into that area.

    Just pray we continue to have dry weather for a while!
    2009 Nitro Z-7, Mercury 175 Pro xs, Hydraulic steering, Motorguide 82lb TM, HDS 7 w/ structure scan, Lake Insight, and Eagle 640c at console HDS 7 Lake Insight at bow networked , 3 bank charger, 6" manual Slidmaster Jackplate.

  5. Member
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    Nov 2012
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    #5
    Quote Originally Posted by cbr900racer22 View Post
    They are supposed to sink the barge at Bayou Chene too. That is what prevents the backup from the Atchafalaya into that area.
    If they would have sunk those barges in March we wouldn’t be having this discussion.. They dropped the ball on predicting the amount of water in the Mississippi and they really didn’t plan on the rain with the high water it can’t drain. So bend over and grab your ankles if you live on the river or have property on the river it’s not gonna be good. I just feel so sorry for all, this should of and could of be avoided.

  6. Member
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    Aug 2014
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    #6
    Water level last 120 days
    67187.jpg

  7. Member
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    Nov 2012
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    Prairieville, Louisiana
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    #7
    According to channel 2 they will have the barge in place before they open the bays at Morganza. When questioning the parish officials they said that sinking the barge wasn’t worth the money until they opened the Morganza. I wonder if the people of Pierre Part and Stephensville will remember that come election time. Also all the time,work and money they already spent to dam roads and sandbag and do the things that this flooding has caused, not to mention the closed roads,
    ,lost income,property damage,quality of life and all the other cost to the local people and property owners in the area. Speaking as one who’s pays a very high (in my opinion) property tax for a fishing camp I don’t get it. They could of paid for this barge with the money they would of saved by installing it and everyone would be having a nice Memorial Day weekend. I know I don’t have all the information but just looking at it from a common sense perspective it don’t add up..

  8. Member
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    Feb 2006
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    #8
    It seems to be getting worse as downriver from Chene and around the Wax is silting in some areas. The river current puts pressure on the mouth of Chene and pressurizes it from the river to the ICC and does not let the verret area drain. When you put rocks all over the place the water has to go somewhere and if it can't cross marsh because of the rocks it will pressurize the channels. Last week I went up chene into bayou penchant. I have never seen logs and that much debris pushing down penchant coming from the river. Maybe a wing dam at the mouth of chene in the river to keep it from blasting in the mouth of chene. Lots of smart people get humbled when trying to control the water flows.

  9. Member
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    Nov 2012
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    Prairieville, Louisiana
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    #9
    I really don’t know anything besides the levee system that the corps has done that hasn’t made it worse. Especially in the case of the spillway and the flow of water they ruined Grandlake and most canals don’t flow like they use to. The water just stagnants now no flow. Everything silting up.

  10. Member
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    Apr 2009
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    Luling, La.
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    #10
    The Corp is in a tough business....because nobody can truly predict Mother Nature. If they would have opened the Morganza sooner, and the river stopped rising, they would have gotten an earful from the farmers and cattle people there. This year will break a record from 1973...for 225 consecutive high river days. That is an all time historical record! I saw the weather this morning for 6 northern states along the upper river, and it is raining, and will rain there for several more days. Huge tracts of farmland have never been planted yet this year.

  11. Banned
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    #11
    I'm up in Wichita,ks now at sons house been raining off on for 2 day.Lived here for 19 years never seen the water this high.The Arkansas River is really high going through Wichita.

  12. Member
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    #12
    A flood gate and pumps have been approved for Bayou Chene. I don't think the money has been budgeted yet but it's coming. I can't believe they have not raised the levee highway where it keeps on flooding. That's about a mile of road that had they raised that section it would solve the problem. What they have spent the last few years trying to keep it open they could have raised it by now. Our wonderful DOTD and their misuse of monies.

    While it's really hard to predict, the corps wasn't prepared for this at all. It seems like they are trying to please the vocal minority rather than doing what's best for the whole.
    All sheep are eventually led to slaughter

  13. Member
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    Feb 2006
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    #13
    The COE plan they use to determine if they open spillways needs to be re-evaluated and modified to deal with current river conditions. Mississippi River is silting up below the structure. Hopefully they know what they are doing. In my experience that is questionable after seeing what some of their "projects" have done to the area. Maybe we don't know the real long range goals.

  14. Banned
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    Jul 2015
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    Morgan City, La
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    #14
    Quote Originally Posted by JR21RDC View Post
    If they would have sunk those barges in March we wouldn’t be having this discussion.. They dropped the ball on predicting the amount of water in the Mississippi and they really didn’t plan on the rain with the high water it can’t drain. So bend over and grab your ankles if you live on the river or have property on the river it’s not gonna be good. I just feel so sorry for all, this should of and could of be avoided.
    If everyone would have paid their fair share of sinking the barges the last time, it probably would have been done sooner. At least that is what I have been hearing.

  15. Member
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    Nov 2012
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    #15
    Well we can only hope that this is a lesson learned. I don’t feel personally it will be but I can only hope. Weather they like it or not the Chene is part of the flood control on the Atchafalya / Mississippi making it in my opinion a COE responsibility. There is a coalition to the levels on each that causes the water to back flow flooding the area. This has been shown, what the levels are that cause this should be easy to go back and find. Attach a procedure that upon those perimeters as they do to the floodgates you close Chene. I can’t help but believe and I’m not alone by no means that had the barge been in place when it started back flowing and flooding the area this whole mess could of been avoided. Some people want to blame this on the rain although there were some large rain fall days. The water was already here and still rising. The rain just added to an already flooded condition. Let’s hope the blame game turns into a let’s move forward game for the sake of the people. The Belle has been on a steady slow fall looking like it’s getting more momentum hopefully we see some big jumps in the coming days..fishing should be good if we get a good pull going out. I know one thing it stinks to high hell and the critters are everywhere..

  16. Member
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    #16
    Why would they need pumps at Bayou Chene? I understand the flood gate.

  17. Member
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    Nov 2012
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    #17
    stmarynow.com has some good back ground articles on the Morgan city bayou Chene. Also has some articles on how it got to where it is now.

  18. Member
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    #18
    Rocks along the south end of the marsh to stop salt water intrusion and rocks along the river and avoca Island keep the high water from crossing the marsh at will. This sends it through Chene, it has to go somewhere. The flood gate will work well to take pressure off Verret and let it drain some. I'm wondering what is the reason for pumps at that location. Maybe the pumps will be installed somewhere else to help draining. If they close the flood gate once built in chene for long periods of high water it will probably destroy Bayou Penchant and wash away a lot of marsh. That will cause more intrusion especially storm surges. Its a no win situation but the gate will help let Verret drain and save some homes and camps. Any change at point A will cause a change at point B.

  19. Member
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    Mar 2007
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    Thibodaux, LA
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    #19
    Check the water level in Bayou Bouef at the railroad bridge. It's like someone pulled a plug. Water has been dropping since they sunk the barge.

  20. Member
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    Nov 2012
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    Prairieville, Louisiana
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    #20
    At Belle river too. It’s been on a slow steady fall since Thursday. Waiting to see if there’s gonna be any difference when they open Morganza this week. Don’t want to do any clean up till I see we will maintain. Just soooo happy I’m not having to do any flood damage repairs.

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