Morganza Spillway weir, two sluice gates, seventeen scour indicators, and 125 gated openings which can allow up to of water to be diverted from the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya Basin during major floods. The project was completed in 1954. A highway (Louisiana Route 1) and the Kansas City Southern Railway cross the structure The Corps of Engineers maintains the structures and, in times of flood, monitors their piers for scouring and stability. The Corps of Engineers has two 25-ton cranes used to lift and lower the flood gates. The cranes roll on special tracks next to the roadway, enabling the operators
2011 Mississippi River floods U.S. President Barack Obama declared the western counties of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi federal disaster areas. For the first time in 37 years, the Morganza Spillway was opened on May 14, deliberately flooding of rural Louisiana to save most of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Fourteen people were killed in Arkansas, with 392 killed across seven states in the preceding storms. Thousands of homes were ordered evacuated, including over 1,300 in Memphis, and more than 24,500 in Louisiana and Mississippi, though some people disregarded mandatory evacuation orders. The flood crested in Memphis on May 10 and artificially crested in southern