MORGANZA, Louisiana (Reuters) – US Army engineers yesterday opened a key spillway to allow the swollen Mississippi River to flood thousands of homes and crops but spare New Orleans and Louisiana’s capital Baton Rouge.
The US Army Corps of Engineers opened one of the 125 floodgates at the Morganza Spillway 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Baton Rouge shortly after 3 pm CDT (2000 GMT), sending a flume of water onto nearby fields.
The move, last taken in 1973, will channel floodwaters toward homes, farms, a wildlife refuge and a small oil refinery in the
