The Corps’ Mississippi Valley New Orleans (MVN) continued to open bays on the Bonnet Carré Spillway today (Thursday, February 28, 2019). The MVN opened 28 bays yesterday (as planned) in order to manage the maximum flow at New Orleans at or below the target flow of 1.25 million cubic feet per second.
The MVN will continue to oversee the operation of the Spillway as a flood control structure in accordance with the approved Bonnet Carré Spillway Water Control Manual. The MVN intends to slowly open a total of 200 bays (approximately) based on efforts to maintain the maximum flow at New Orleans. The MVN now indicates the projected crest above the Spillway on March 18, 2019 and projects the crest to have a maximum flow of 1.458 million cubic feet per second at Red River Landing. The trigger flow requiring the operation of the Morganza Spillway is 1.5 million cubic feet per second, the MVN does not anticipate operating the Morganza Spillway.
BONNET CARRé SPILLWAY OPERATION
| DATE | CARROLTON GAUGE (NEW ORLEANS) | BAYS OPENED | TOTOAL NUMBER OF BAYS OPENED | SPILLWAY DISCHARGE CUBIC FEET PER SECOND (cfs) |
| 2/27/19 | 16.02 feet | 28 | 28 | 23,000 cfs |
| 2/28/19 | 16.2 feet | 20 | 48 | 37,000 cfs |
The Carrolton Gauge is now expected to reach 17 feet on March 11, 2019 and to remain at that stage for about two weeks with the Bonnet Carré Spillway operation expected to hold the crest at 17 feet consistently. At 1500 hours today the Carrolton Gauge had a reading of 15.98 feet with a 24-hour change of – 0.1 feet, river stages for areas above the Spillway continued to rise while areas below the Spillway saw minimal decreases.
