By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

NORCO – With water levels in the Mississippi River continuing to subside and return to normal, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun the process to close bays in the Bonnet Carre Spillway.

Mike Stack, chief of Emergency Management for the corps’ New Orleans District Office, said Monday the flow of the river from Reserve to New Orleans has fallen below the levels needed to fully operate the flood control structure. He said crews began the process of shutting the bays Saturday.

“We will continue to evaluate the river and monitor gauges every day to ensure a steady and gradual decline,” said Stack. “The flow of the water determines how many bays get closed each day.”

Rachel Rodi, a spokesperson for the corps in New Orleans, said 50 bays were closed between Saturday and Sunday and another 20 were closed as of Monday, leaving the total number of open bays at 260 as of Tuesday.

Rodi said Spillway workers started with the highest most bays in the system, where there is less water to work through. She said the closing process takes much longer than the opening process because the pins have to be worked back in between the flow of water and debris.

“Thirty bays is actually the maximum amount we are able to close in one day since the process takes so long,” Rodi said. “We will likely see anywhere between 20 and 30 bays closed per day until all 330 are shut completely. It is a process that will take a couple of weeks.”

The corps started opening the Bonnet Carre Spillway on May 9, as record snowmelt and rainfall throughout the Midwest caused the river to swell to historic levels and flows. Since then, water has engulfed the six-mile stretch of open land and recreational areas that line the spillway bottom between the river and Lake Pontchartrain. With the water beginning to recede, a dark brown ring of dirt and debris lines levees, trees and other markers throughout the spillway.

Although the water has started to drop and the closure continues, Rodi said the river level is still higher than normal throughout the region. The river remains at flood stage from Donaldsonville up to Vicksburg, Miss., according to monitoring data posted at rivergages.com. Rodi also said the river at the Carrollton gauge in New Orleans registered at 15.2 feet Tuesday.

“There is still a great deal of pressure on the levees in the area, and the land has been saturated for more than a month,” said Stack. “We want to carefully bring the level down to avoid any further erosion that may have taken place.”