Bonnet Carré Spillway
Located in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, about 12 miles (19 km) west of New Orleans, it allows floodwaters from the Mississippi River to flow into Lake Pontchartrain and thence into the Gulf of Mexico.
[2] Local drainage systems were unable to contain the floodwater and strong winds caused the water to enter Lake Pontchartrain and surrounding urban areas.
The 7,600-acre (31 km2) spillway, designed to divert rising water out of the Mississippi River during flooding seasons, long has been a major source of sand and clay that is used in construction projects throughout the area.
[4] The 2019 opening began February 27, 2019,[5] when river levels were predicted to rise to minor flood stage in New Orleans on March 19, 2019.
[7] The Bonnet Carré Spillway consists of two basic components: a control structure along the east bank of the Mississippi River and a floodway that transfers the diverted flood waters to the lake.
The lake's opening to the gulf is sufficient to absorb and dissipate any conceivable volume of flood flow.
Confined by guide levees, the floodway stretches nearly six miles (9.7 km) to Lake Pontchartrain, with a design capacity of 250,000 cu ft/s (7,100 m3/s).
The floodgate inlet is offset into the Mississippi River bank, at a location that had seen natural flooding for at least two centuries.
The spillway is part of the United States Army Corps of Engineers' multi-state plan, called the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project (MR&T), providing flood protection for the alluvial valley between Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
The cemeteries contain the remains of enslaved persons of African descent and free African-Americans, and the historic ground surface is under several feet of sediment.
According to oral histories and as confirmed by GIS analysis, both cemeteries were located in the midst of the cane fields of their respective plantations.
The Kenner Cemetery, located on the former Roseland Plantation, was reported to be marked by iron and wooden crosses during its period of use.
The Kugler Cemetery, located on the former Hermitage Plantation, was reported to contain iron crosses and a metal fence.
The diversion was authorized by the Water Resources Development Act of 1988 (WRDA 1988), and Congress (1990) split the cost and maintenance between the Federal Government at 75%, Louisiana at 20% and Mississippi at 5%.
