As the decision to open the massive spillway of the swollen river came in some 25,000 people in an area known for small farms, fish camps, crawfish and a drawling French dialect are hurriedly packing their things and worrying that their homes and way of life might soon be drowned. Col. Ed Fleming leaned over a podium this week and warned that projections by the Army Corps of Engineers call for the station to be inundated by up to 15 feet of water.
The corps could open the Morganza floodway north of Baton Rouge as early as this weekend, a move that would relieve pressure on the city’s levee system. The engineers said that the opening of the spillway gates will unleash the Mississippi on a wild ride south to the Gulf of Mexico through the Atchafalaya River and divert floodwater from the river into the basin’s swamplands, backwater lakes and bayous. Several thousand homes would be at risk of flooding.
For the people of this region, floods from rain-swollen rivers and hurricanes are a familiar hazard. Maxim Doucet was born that year. His parents stayed put, even when the floodwaters started lapping at the rear of their grocery store. Water may drive these families out of their homes, but it’s also what will bring them back to repair and rebuild.
