Corps, state watching river levels, levee stress

• By AMY WOLD AND JAMES MINTON
• Advocate staff writers
• Published: Apr 9, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:17 a.m.

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As water levels continue to rise, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has stepped up its monitoring of levees along the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers.

“We have moved up to our second phase of flood-fight activation which includes daily inspections,” said Eric Hughes, spokesman with the corps’ New Orleans District.

In other developments, some farmers in Pointe Coupee Parish lost their fight to keep their fields from flooding while state corrections officials may move prisoners from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola if conditions warrant.

As of Monday, corps staff are monitoring the levees along the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers in 12-hour shifts every day, Hughes said.

Areas of concern include any levee scouring on the river side or sand boils on the land side, which would indicate water pressure forcing water under the levee.

With the experience of floods in 1973, 1983, 1984 and 1997, corps staff know where these sand boils are traditionally found and where they might need to focus additional attention, said Lee Guillory, natural disaster manager for the corps, New Orleans District.

The New Orleans District is responsible for the approximately 760 miles of levees and floodwalls in the Mississippi River and Tributaries program that extend from Concordia Parish to the Gulf of Mexico, Guillory said.

So far, the corps hasn’t found any areas of concern along the levees, he said.

“Just the routine seepage areas and sand boils that we routinely see when the river gets high,” Guillory said.

A decision on whether to open the Bonnet Carré Spillway north of New Orleans to relieve high water pressure downriver is still under consideration, Hughes said.

In Pointe Coupee Parish, some farmers lost their battle to keep the rising water out of their fields.

From March 20 until Sunday, these farmers — with help from the community, businesses and the Louisiana National Guard — raised the levee with 4-foot square bags of dirt.

This 2.2-mile stretch of small levee is designed to let water into a holding area bordered by two large guide levees if the river reaches a certain height.