Monday, May 16, 2011

Down by the Banks

This past weekend I had to go to downtown Baton Rouge. If you've been paying attention to the news lately you should know that the Mississippi river is at some of its highest levels ever.
Levee is Closed to Pedestrians

While the actual levee has been restricted to pedestrians there was an overlook to look out onto the river.
Mississippi River
Yes, this may look impressive but it's hard to tell just from this picture what it actually means.

source
For comparison the photo above is of the the USS Kidd, a battleship that is permanently docked in the river and used as a museum. You can tell it's docked by looking carefully underneath the boat. The photo above was taken on a fairly dry day a few years ago. The photo below was taken this past Saturday. You can see the front end of the USS Kidd on the left side of the picture. Also those steps in the first picture and pretty much completely underwater now.
Mississippi River
At this point it's hard to know exactly what's going to happen. The river is supposed to crest here in the middle of next week. And while everything sounds crazy and this is going to impact a lot of people, thankfully where I live and work I'm not really in danger. But just try to have the people of Louisiana in your thoughts over the next few weeks.

3 comments:

  1. Wow, the comparison between those two pictures says it all! I've been reading about them opening up the Morganza Spillway, but I guess I didn't really grasp just how serious the situation is. I hope you guys are in a safe place in Baton Rouge!

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  2. Wow - the comparison really makes you realize how high it is. Hope you stay dry and safe and know that we are thinking of you all down there up here in the north!

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  3. Oh wow! I know it's done nothing but rain and rain for 2 weeks straight here and that water flows straight into the mississippi. Hopefully everyone will be ok!

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