Bonnet Carré Spillway

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bonnet Carré Spillway from the southwest, with Lake Pontchartrain in the background

The Bonnet Carré Spillway is a hydraulic structure for flood protection on the lower Mississippi . The structure is located in St. Charles Parish in the US state of Louisiana , around 19 km west of New Orleans . Completed in 1931, the system enables flooding from the Mississippi to be diverted into Lake Pontchartrain and finally into the Gulf of Mexico .

history

In the history of the settlement of the swampy region on the lower Mississippi River, the residents have repeatedly struggled with devastating floods. During the Mississippi flood in 1927 , an area of ​​70,000 km² was inundated. As a result, a Flood Control Act was passed in 1928 , which gave the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) the handle to build flood protection structures to prevent a similar disaster in the future. The Bonnet Carré Spillway was completed in 1931 as part of the flood prevention measures in the lower Mississippi Valley. It was part of the larger flood protection plan for the entire Mississippi River basin, the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project .

The flood gates have been opened 14 times so far: 1937, 1945, 1950, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1983, 1997, 2008, 2011, 2016, 2018 and (twice) in 2019. During the Mississippi flood in 2011 , the USACE opened the Bonnet Carré Spillway as a relief sewer to prevent further flooding of New Orleans. Initially only 28 gates were opened, then 44 and finally 330 by May 18th.

Construction of the weir

Located along the Mississippi, the 7,700 foot (1.5 miles ) long weir has a series of 350 flood gates. Each gate is closed vertically with around 20 wooden planks (“ needles ”). In total, the structure has over 7000 such planks that can be pulled out with cranes for which rails are laid on the structure.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 10 things to know about the Bonnet Carre Spillway before it's opened Thursday. In: NOLA.com. March 17, 2018, accessed June 24, 2018 .
  2. ^ Bob Henson: More Flooding Rains for Houston and Lake Ontario; Bonnet Carre Spillway to Reopen ( English ) In: Category Six . Weather Underground. May 9, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  3. ^ A b John A. Weeks III: Bonnet Carre Spillway, Norco, LA. Retrieved June 24, 2018 .

Coordinates: 30 ° 0 ′ 7.9 ″  N , 90 ° 26 ′ 29 ″  W.