Morganza Floodway

This body of water is the Mississippi River. You can see they have lots of (white) sandbags on top of the levee. This is the start of the Morganza Floodway.

My husband grew up in a tiny tiny town called Morganza just outside of New Roads, Louisiana.  I don't think it is even technically a town!  Have you ever heard of it?  Probably not, but maybe you have?  Recently the small town of Morganza has been in the news quite a bit!  You see the Mississippi River runs through this region of the world, and as I am sure you have heard, the Mississippi River has been flooding a lot of towns and causing all sorts of problems for anyone who lives in its path.

We are about to drive over the floodway bridge. Mississippi River to the right, area being flooded (the spillway) to the left.

The Morganza Control Structure was built with the purpose to divert water from the Mississippi River to Morganza Spillway in times of flooding to spare highly populated areas like Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  This structure was constructed in 1954, and has only been opened two times.  Once in 1973, and the second time...you guessed it, 2011.  This structure is 3,900 ft long and in essence is a long dam.  It has 125 gates that can be opened one at a time.  At the time we visited, only 12 gates were open.  Currently I think there are only 9 gates open, the Army Corp of Engineers have been opening and closing them as needed to control the amount of water flowing through.

On the Morganza Floodway bridge. To the right you can see the "open" flood gates to allow the water to flow through.

This is where we turned around. You are looking at the Morganza spillway. Normally this area is water free, but not now!

We decided we had to go see this once in a lifetime event, and it was amazing the sheer amount of water flowing from the Mississippi River.  It was definitely worth the trip.  We did not see any escaping wildlife (which is a big problem when you flood a huge area of land.)  The last I had heard, residents in Krotz Springs (a town South of the spillway) have encountered 22+ black bears!  I wouldn't want to see that in my backyard.

About to drive back over the bridge, you can see the water flowing out (the white section) from the open flood gates to the right.

I wanted to apologize for my less than great photos of this trip, but you are not allowed to stop along this stretch of roadway, so all the photos were taken from the car window, while we were driving hence the bug spots, reflections, and blurriness.

Picture from the center of the bridge, water flowing out from the open flood gates into the Morganza Spillway.

At this moment in time, it does seem as if the crisis has been avoided.  No towns have seriously flooded, and there has been minimal damage to those living alongside/in the Morganza Spillway areas.  Hopefully as the next few weeks pass by, more and more gates can close and life in these areas can return to normal.

Sunset on the Mississippi River. The rock road you can see is the road on top of the levee. The river is about 7 feet from the top.

The last photo was taken in New Roads, Louisiana.  We were standing on top of the levee that holds back the Mississippi river.  The water was pretty high on the levee, but honestly I have seen it higher in the past. But, I would hate to think what would have happened had they not opened up the Morganza Floodway!

Want to learn more?  Click HERE to read more about this historic event and the Morganza Floodway.  Thanks for taking this little journey with me!