Three part blog by Jeff Masters on the Mississippi River's Old River Control Structure
Posted by
Chris in Tampa on 5/27/2019, 3:53 pm
I was reading the most recent post on Mississippi flooding in this May 24th blog:
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Mississippi-Rivers-Morganza-Spillway-Expected-Open-3rd-Time-History
And saw this three part blog he did earlier this month about the Mississippi River's Old River Control Structure. I never knew anything about it. It's a really good read.
From Part 1: "America has an Achilles' heel. It lies on a quiet, unpopulated stretch of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, 45 miles upstream from Baton Rouge. Rising up from the flat, wooded west flood plain of the Mississippi River are four massive concrete and steel structures that would make a pharaoh envious: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers greatest work, the two billion-dollar Old River Control Structure (ORCS). The ORCS saw its second highest flood on record in March 2019, and flood levels have risen again this week to their fifth highest level on record. While the structure is built to handle the unusual stress this year's floods have subjected it to, there is reason for concern for its long-term survival, since failure of the Old River Control Structure would be a catastrophe with global impact."
From Part 2: "The Old River Control Structure (ORCS), the Army Corps of Engineers critical defense against the risk of the Mississippi River undergoing an economically catastrophic change in its course, is under increasing threat due to flood heights that have escalated in recent decades. The higher floods are from increasing sedimentation of the rivers channel. This was due to the construction of the structure, plus other river engineering efforts."
From Part 3: "Even as technology becomes an ever-bigger part of our world, the Mississippi River remains the very lifeblood of the American economy. If the river were to carve a new path to the Gulf of Mexico down the Atchafalaya River during a massive flood, extremely damaging short- and long-term impacts costing hundreds of billions of dollars would result, along with a dangerous threat to global food supplies."
Part 1:
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Americas-Achilles-Heel-Mississippi-Rivers-Old-River-Control-Structure
Part 2:
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Escalating-Floods-Putting-Mississippi-Rivers-Old-River-Control-Structure-Risk
Part 3:
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/If-Old-River-Control-Structure-Fails-Catastrophe-Global-Impact
There's also this May 23rd blog post about NOAA's hurricane season outlook, as well as from various other groups:
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/NOAA-Expect-Near-Average-2019-Atlantic-Hurricane-Season
It only takes one storm to impact you, so whether it is an above-average, average or below-average season, you have to prepare in case one comes your way. The reasoning for the forecasts is educational, but I don't like making too big of a deal of the numbers for the general public. It's not telling you what your risk is, just overall activity. |
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Three part blog by Jeff Masters on the Mississippi River's Old River Control Structure - Chris in Tampa, 5/27/2019, 3:53 pm Post A Reply
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