Worried??

I've been asked this numerous times a day for the last week. Why you ask? Well, if you don't live around here or you don't watch the news, you wouldn't know. The Mississippi River is high. Like really high. As of this morning it was 43.4 ft. & it's still rising. It won't crest until the 22nd. The average for this time of year is  about 23 ft. Big difference huh? The reason this is disturbing is that the levees in Baton Rouge range from 47.3 to 51 ft. The crest is expected to be at 47.5 ft. The reason people continue to ask me if I'm worried is because I live 2.5 miles from the levee. With that whole "as the crow flies" business it's probably only a mile away. We don't have flood insurance. The river has never ever been this high & our area has never flooded. I'm no weather guru by any stretch of the imagination but from what I understand this is caused from all the snow in the northern part of the country this year. Yesterday afternoon I stopped at the levee to look at the water.

The pictures aren't great. It was cloudy. This is area of the levee that is right across the street from LSU's Vet School.

See the piece of the asphalt in the corner of the picture? That's the top of the levee.

See the splash? That would be a dog. Some morons were throwing balls into the water & the dog was chasing it. Because of these morons & others like them as of 7:00 am this morning the levee has been closed.

This is looking north towards downtown Baton Rouge.

This is looking south which is the direction that we live.

So to answer the question, no I'm not worried. There's not a thing we can do. We wouldn't flood unless the levee broke. We know that's possible. That's what caused all the problems with Hurricane Katrina but the levee is being patrolled several times a day to check for any problems. The Morganza Spillway will most likely be opened tomorrow which will allow the water to go down about a foot. Now this creates a lot of problems for people in that area. It's really sad that they have to make a decision on who to flood. The areas near the Spillway are less populated & are all small towns. Very, very sad.

Dean & I had plans to leave for Orange Beach, AL Monday. My plan is to go to the beach, have some drinks & not worry. We'll be home Thursday in time for all the hoopla surrounding the river's crest.

Toodles!