The oil-and-seafood hub of Morgan City has been hit by one disaster after another, from hurricanes to the BP oil spill. The latest trouble involves a deluge of water that was diverted from the Mississippi River and is headed toward the town of about 12,000 people. The Army Corps of Engineers, desperate to save Baton Rouge and New Orleans from flooding, opened a spigot on a spillway over the weekend, intentionally flooding this part of Cajun country, an area much less populated than urban areas. But the cascade of water from the Morganza floodway is hampering the local oil industry and fishermen on the bayou.
Meanwhile, what is believed to be the first death related to the flooding since the river’s rising waters began affecting Mississippi and Louisiana was reported Thursday in Vicksburg, Miss. Walter Cook, 69, who drowned, died early today at a hospital after being pulled from floodwaters Wednesday. Also, the threat of flooding prompted at least one school district in Louisiana to end the school year early. Students in Assumption Parish schools will not have to attend classes next week because the school board voted Wednesday to end the school year on Friday.
