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Flooded Mississippi a Threat as Hurricane Season Heats Up

Associated Press

   NEW ORLEANS - The river that drains much of the flood-soaked United
   States is still running higher than normal, menacing New Orleans in
   multiple ways just as the hurricane season intensifies.

   For months now, a massive volume of water has been pushing against the
   levees keeping a city mostly below sea level from being inundated. The
   Mississippi River ran past New Orleans at more than 11 feet (3.4
   meters) above sea level for a record 292 days, dropping below that
   height only Monday.

   "The big threat is water getting through or underneath," said Nicholas
   Pinter, an expert on river dynamics and flood risks who's studied levee
   breaches across the nation. "The longer the duration, the greater the
   threat."

   Locals walked up levees from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to see the
   river for themselves as Tropical Storm Barry briefly menaced Louisiana
   last month, but the real damage runs underneath, experts say: All that
   rushing floodwater can scour levees along their foundations, causing
   damage in places that can't easily be seen.
   "That ultimately could undermine the levee as well and cause a breach
   or a failure," said Cassandra Rutherford, assistant professor of
   geotechnical engineering at Iowa State University.

   'Silver lining'
   The federal agency that maintains the levees is aware of the risks. But
   Ricky Boyett, spokesman for the New Orleans office of the U.S. Army
   Corps of Engineers, said the corps is confident that South Louisiana
   river levees are in great condition, with improvements made since 2011.

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