BUTTE LAROSE, La. — Over the next few days, water spewing through a Mississippi River floodgate will crawl through the swamps of Louisiana’s Cajun country, chasing people and animals to higher ground while leaving much of the land under 10 to 20 feet of water.
Most people had cleared out of the town of Butte LaRose yesterday. The water wasn’t expected to arrive until at least later in the day. No evacuation orders had been issued there, but neighborhoods were teeming with activity last week as people cleared out their belongings.
“It’s almost like a ghost town,” said Chalmers Wheat, 54, who, along with his twin brother, Chandler, was doing a final few things to protect his home before he went to stay with his father in Baton Rouge, about 40 miles away.
Sandbags were still being distributed in the center of town yesterday, although most people had left. On Interstate 10 outside of town, an electronic sign suggested animals might be headed for higher ground, too: “Wildlife crossing possible. Use caution,” it read.
The Morganza floodgate was opened Saturday for the first time in nearly four decades, spraying water 6 feet into the air. Fish jumped or were hurled through the white froth, and what was dry land soon turned into a raging channel.
The opening of the spillway diverted water from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and the numerous oil refineries and chemical plants along the lower reaches of the Mississippi.
Shifting the water away from the cities eased the strain on levees and blunted the potential for catastrophic flooding.
The water will flow 20 miles south into the Atchafalaya Basin, and from there it will roll on to Morgan City, an oil-and-seafood hub of 12,000.