mississippi river. i have never seen a river this high. a team of hydrologists. historical event. reporter: takes readings of the water, racing past baton rouge. amazing the power that water has. reporter: a foot-and-a-half below the surface. we ll lower it into the water. reporter: high track radar tracks how quickly sediment is carried downstream. we send the signal down into the water and it reflects off the sediments, transported by the water. reporter: and the computer on the boat. it sends the commands down to the units. reporter:. sends the velocity readings onto the army corps of engineers. so they have the most current information, what is going on here so they can control, you know, the morganza floodway and, all of those decisions will be based on these type of mesh zuchlts. measurements. reporter: there s a half dozen teams, spread out from north of the morganza spill way,
this had ever happened. and along with the farms in that area, the floods are also destroying wildlife. our steve harrigan is live. in louisiana in more with that hey, steve. shepard, we are out on the swamp today which in some cases ha risen 1 feet. that s creating a lot of problems for animals, even birds that have to find a new home. rabbit floating on a log is described as distressed animal in louisiana. released photos of distressed animals fleeing water from the morganza spillway north of baton rouge. the spillway has been open gradually in part to give animals time to seek higher ground. but guides who work on the river say the water is taking its toll. they are going to be in deep trouble because most of them can t swim. that long. they are going to have to swim to highland. and there is very little highland out here right now. what we re looking at is an
anywhere down to the southern side of it, because of opening up the spillway, as well as the morganza, hit the levels you are going to stay at because everything below that is funneling off. there your crest to the north of vicksburg. still have all the way to get down there. that morganza spillway. all of that excess is coming down here into the basin. that s exactly where steve harrigan was just talking about. this entire area of flooding. water floods down the river, flows down the river and spreads back up, shepard, so all of the tributaries will eventually flood by the time we get to a week from now. the water stays there for a long time. got to show you, this shepard. over the next five days precipitation accumulation. a lot of it falling across arkansas and missouri. these rivers flow into the mississippi. that means we could potentially be dealing with a prolonged flooding event because very significant rain headed in towards this area unfortunately once again. shep? that is
i want to bring in meteorologist bonnie schneider. the arm corps of engineers very much involved in watching this develop, but also trying to help folks out. that s right. one of the things they did suzanne, happened earlier at saint charles parish in louisiana. they opened up the bonnie kerry spillway. it is lowering pressure heading towards the pash parishes of louisiana. 250,000 cubic feet of water we are second. very fast and very rapid flow. you see here a lot of spectators waging it. the last time this happened april 29, 2008. here s the mississippi. here s the spillway. it spills right into lake pontchartrain. that s what s happening as we speak. the same thing that happened back then. there s another floodway further off to the west called the morganza floodway. zoom into morganza. they may do this on thursday. the mississippi is here. to the west, this floodway. this is the area where the water would flow, and as you can see
water. the plan in place to move the water and divert it from the bigger cities, the plan is to open up the spillway on monday and alleviate the pressure on the levees, and this will be a fast current of water as it heads to lake pontchartrain, but also the plan is to open up also somewhere else this floodway. once again, here s the picture. this is the spillway bringing the water to lake pontchartrain. in addition to the spillway, the morganza floodway could potentially be open on thursday. another route to divert the water. this though has only been open once before, 1973. only partially and for a different reason. and even if it is open there s still flooding. 5 to 25 feet of water. deepest water near st. francisville and five feet in houma and morgan city. any way you slice it there will be flooding in different areas. it s the routing of the water of where it goes and who sees how much. hopefully they have a plan in place and see how this works.