Friday, May 6, 2011

respect the mighty mississippi

5 p.m. update: The current Mississippi River stage is at 53.97'. The National Weather Service is watching a weather system in mid-Mississippi Saturday and Sunday that could produce rainfall...
Concordia Parish officials said today that the Mississippi River will likely remain at flood stage in to July due to the release of water in reservoirs in the Ohio Valley area. It was also stated that the opening of the Bonnet Carre spillway scheduled for Monday will have no effect on the river levels at Natchez.
 Brandon found out this evening that the Isle of Capri Casino will be closing its doors tonight. You will see why in the pictures below.


FEMA stated today that President Obama has declared a flood disaster in 22 Louisiana parishes, this declaration authorizes FEMA to coordinate disaster relief and make federal money and aid available. Parishes in this declaration include; Avoyelles, Ascension, Assumption, Catahoula, Concordia, East Carroll, Iberia, Iberville, LaSalle, Madison, Pointe Coupee, East Baton Rouge, St. Charles, St. James, St. John, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, Tensas, Terrebonne, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana.

My sweet husband was nice enough to take my camera and go get me some good shots today! These are some of them ~
This is a shot of what was the sand/gravel business on the Vidalia side of the river.
Of course this is the boat ramp under the hill that I showed in my first post. You can no longer read "Welcome to Natchez"...You can barely see the Magnolia flower..
This is a picture of the huge piles of sand they are using to fill the instant levee near the Casino.
The building to the left of this wall is the last building on Silver Street before you see the Casino. They are building this levee wall to save all the buildings on Silver Street.
If you will notice in this picture the wooden stake in the ground behind the man in the white striped shirt. The first red mark being 61' and the red mark at the top being 65'! This gives you an idea of what the water level will be like when it finally crests.
Another angle on the wall they are building. Major thanks to the Biglane and Nobile family for all their efforts in preserving UTH.
These next few shots are of the prep work and sandbagging efforts created to keep the Casino up and running. Like I said tonight they will shut the boat down and then they will no longer pump the water, that is seeping through, back into the river. It will in turn just flow over the sandbag wall and block the road.
Next I have pictures from the Riverview RV Park.  
This gravel drive is the drive closest to the river. If you will notice the four trees on the left side of the picture, there is a faint line at the top of the water near those trees; this is the point where the hill drops down to the river (when it is at its normal stage level).
This gravel drive is also the same drive in the first picture but looking the opposite direction. You will notice on the bottom left corner is the main building for the RV Park.
Ms. Gisele, this is the walkway you and Ms. Melba walked when you stayed at the campground.
This is the main building at the RV Park.
These next few are from the Natchez Port, and of the Coast Guard building.

Take note of the small line of grass showing between the tower and the tree, when the river is at normal stage that is where the hill would drop down to the river...

Ok guys, that's all I've got for today. OH, and at 7 p.m. the river stage was at 54.0'!! Its been a long day. I will post more tomorrow.

2 comments:

  1. I love that your blogging this. I'm in Monroe an my family is in vidalia. So it's nice to actually see the whole thing

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  2. I'm glad that I am able to keep people informed about what is happening, especially those who can't be near their family!

    ReplyDelete