Lawmakers briefed on potential Baton Rouge flooding

If the Morganza Spillway remains closed—officials actually expect it to be opened over the weekend—water could reach historic and even frightening levels around Baton Rouge on May 22 or so, according to Lt. Col. Mark D. Jernigan, deputy commander of the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In fact, published reports have indicated potential problems for the LSU campus, which is on property hugging the nearby river levee. During a briefing for members of the House and Senate natural resources committees Tuesday, Jernigan confirmed as much without shedding additional light on the possibilities. “If Morganza is not operated, based on where the levee sits, there will be an impact,” he said. “We’re doing an analysis now.” To be certain, there are isolated reasons that confidence in Baton Rouge’s protection system might by lacking. For example, Jernigan said he currently has a team investigating seepage in the levee near Duncan’s Point, south of Brightside Drive, an area better known as River Bend. “There’s no doubt (the system) is getting stressed,” he told lawmakers. “In periods of high water, you do see seepage and sand boils.” Once Morganza is opened, some of the pressure will be taken off of Baton Rouge—and placed elsewhere. Jernigan said it would take about two days for Morganza’s floodwaters to reach Iberia Parish, three days for Morgan City and about four or five days for the backwater flooding to occur in the Acadiana region and across the central coastline. “It wouldn’t be a tidal wave effect,” he said. “Gradually it would take some time for the water to fill up the floodway and move down the Atchafalaya Basin.” And for now, time is all low-lying residents have. —Jeremy Alford