The Mississippi River Commission Total System Update Brief for today (Sunday, January 10, 2016) is attached.
The Bonnet Carre’ Spillway was opened today (Sunday, January 10, 2016) with 20 of the 350 bays set to be opened today and plans to open an additional 10 bays tomorrow. Today’s historic opening marks the earliest ever with only the one other January opening occurring on January 28, 1937. Commanding General of the Corps’ Mississippi Valley Division, Major General Michael Wehr was also the first Commanding General ever to assist the crew in lifting the needles to open the first few bays on the downriver end of the structure (see photo below).
At 1500 hours today the Carrollton Gauge (Mile 102.8 Above Head of Passes [AHP]) had a reading of 15.95 feet with an increase of + 0.18 feet over the last 24 hours, even with the opening of the Bonnet Carre’. While at the same time the Bonnet Carre’ Gauge just north (upriver) of the Spillway (Mile 129.2 AHP) had a reading of 20.42 feet with a 24-hour increase of + 0.56 feet. As projected crests have come down over the last few days for many of the stages levels on the Lower Mississippi River, you can compare the level at Vicksburg (Mississippi) during the flood of 2011 when the crest was 57.1 feet on May 19, 2011 and the latest crest projected to be 52 feet on January 15, 2016.
Please note the full details in the attached Brief and the notes below, the areas in bold (emphasis applied) would be of particular interest to Lower Mississippi River operations.
