Corps closing spillway
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The Army Corps of Engineers said it planned to finish closing a major spillway Thursday that it opened last month to ease pressure on area levees from the swollen Mississippi River.
Work began last week to close the 160 bays the corps opened on the Bonnet Carre Spillway. The spillway, which diverts water to Lake Pontchartrain and then to the Gulf of Mexico, is about 30 miles above New Orleans.
It was opened April 11 for the first time in 11 years and only the ninth time since its construction in 1931, drawing a large, festive crowd to see the gushing water push through.
The opening of bays was staggered, with the season-maximum 160 bays opened within nine days, the corps said.
The Corps decided to divert river water because of heavy rain and melting snowfall in the Midwest.
