The Corps’ Mississippi Valley New Orleans (MVN) completed the closure of the Bonnet Carré Spillway structure by noon yesterday, Saturday, July 27, 2019. 

This second opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in 2019 lasted 79 days, the longest single opening of the flood control structure eclipsing the previous record of
75 days required in response to the Flood of 1973.  The first opening of the Spillway in 2019 lasted a total of 44 days from February 27, 2019 to April 11, 2019, in total the flood control structure was operated 123 days during the Great Flood of 2019.

Prior to this flood event the Spillway had never been operated in back-to-back years (2018 and 2019) much less twice in the same year, another historic first set by the Great Flood of 2019.

The maximum flow above the Bonnet Carré Spillway (Mile 128.8 to 127.3 Above Head of Passes [AHP]) today was approximately 970,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) based on the flow measured at Red River Landing (Mile 302.4 AHP), with the calculations and timing adjusted for the downriver flow at Bonnet Carré.  The most recent crest (maximum flow) above the Bonnet Carré occurred between June 16 to June 17 (2019) with a maximum discharge through the Bonnet Carré Spillway of 161,000 cfs.

BONNET CARRÉ SPILLWAY SECOND OPERATION 2019 CLOSURE OPERATIONS 

BONNET CARRÉ SPILLWAY SECOND OPERATION 2019 OPENING OPERATIONS

The MVN manages the opening and closing of bays on the Bonnet Carré Spillway as a flood control structure to ensure the maximum flow at New Orleans remains at/or below the trigger point flow of 1.25 million cfs in accordance with the approved Bonnet Carré Spillway Water Control Manual.