Flood control the Metro Area, resulting in the inundation of approximately 50 percent of the metropolitan area, ranging from a few inches to twenty feet in coastal communities. The Morganza Spillway provides a method of diverting water from the Mississippi River when a river flood threatens New Orleans, Baton Rouge and other major cities on the lower Mississippi. It is the largest of a system of spillways and floodways along the Mississippi. Completed in 1954, the spillway has been opened twice, in 1973 and in 2011. In an act of successful flood prevention, the federal government offered to buy out flood-prone properties
Western Center of the Western Center during the 1960s, wrote a book based on his experiences. In the book, Stuart describes the history of abuse and neglect that the Western Center had become known for. In fact, during the 1950s and 1960s, local parents seeking to discipline their children threatened to send them to "Morganza" if they did not behave. In 2014, Christopher R Barraclough, wrote a book ,Morganza: Pennsylvania's Reform School, about the history of the reform school. Morganza: Pennsylvania's Reform School is part of the "Images of America" series books published by Arcadia Publishing. Western Center Western State School and