The Mississippi River’s rapid rise in the coming days is expected to lead to precautions undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers and local officials, including preparations for a possible Bonnet Carre Spillway opening, though projections so far indicate it won’t be necessary.
Storms in parts of the South and Midwest have caused the river to swell, and those waters are making their way to Louisiana. Projections are showing the river cresting in New Orleans around April 25, lasting around five days.
A river flow rate of 1.25 million cubic feet per second triggers a Bonnet Carre opening, and that tends to correlate to 17 feet on the Carrolton gauge in New Orleans, or roughly 17 feet above sea level. Current projections are showing it top out just below that, at around 16.5 feet, though the margin of error includes levels above…