Flood Fight and Flight Along the Mississippi River

Environment News Service - The Mississippi River is overflowing its banks, putting pressure on levees from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, and threatening the two cities as well as refineries and chemical facilities along the river. Officials say this Mississippi River disaster could break flood records set in the 1920s.

On Saturday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway as part of a flood risk management plan designed to minimize damage to property, structures and to protect millions of people from historic flood levels. Read more.