Two weeks ago, the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carre Spillway to prevent flooding of the Mississippi in New Orleans and downstream. I went to go see this monumental event on the day of it's opening, and it was quite something to see.
Sometimes you forget just how powerful the river can be, in spite of the fact that you live right next to it, and seeing the overflowing waters flooding the empty land was quite a sight to see. It's also amazing to think that this is what people lived with for thousands of years before we created levees. Every single spring you lived in fear of a flood, or perhaps you were just more prepared. Either way, it was just a fact of life.
Here are some picture of the amazing power of water. A seemingly benign force, yet ultimately so powerful. Arguably the most powerful force on the whole planet.
The spillway is indefinitely bigger than you can imagine. It's easy to imagine a small diversion, but in reality the bridge over the spillway is 2 miles wide, and the spillway has the capacity to handle 250,000 cubic feet/second of water, which is an absolutely amazing flow rate, if you think about it.
As you can see here, there are roads throughout the spillway (dry when not in use) that are completely covered by the rushing waters.
These wading birds were standing on what I think is a covered railing on the side of the road. They seemed so confused by the rapidly rising water, not knowing exactly how to handle it.
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