Morganza Spillway the Corps had also opened 330 of the 350 bays of the Bonnet Carré Spillway located near New Orleans. Morganza Spillway The Morganza Spillway or Morganza Control Structure is a flood-control structure in the U.S. state of Louisiana along the western bank of the Lower Mississippi River at river mile 280, near Morganza in Pointe Coupee Parish. The spillway stands between the Mississippi and the Morganza Floodway, which leads to the Atchafalaya Basin and the Atchafalaya River in south-central Louisiana. Its purpose is to divert water from the Mississippi River during major flood events by flooding the Atchafalaya Basin, including
Morganza Spillway still open. All bays were closed on July 7, 2011. The Corps had estimated that it would take opening one-fourth of the spillway’s 125 bays — or 31 bays — to control the flow of the river through Baton Rouge in response to a forecast crest of anticipated on Tuesday, May 17, 2011, which must remain below of water per second through Baton Rouge to ensure the integrity of the levee system. Since Morganza never operated above , the flooding in the Atchafalaya Basin was considerably lower than had been anticipated during the initial estimates of . By May 29,